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SELF-HELP: 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS  OF 


CHARACTER  AND  CONDUCT, 


BY  SAMUEL   SMILES, 
AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  LIFE  OF  GEORGE  STEPHKNSON. 


"  This  above  all,  —  To  thine  own  self  be  true ; 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  h«  false  to  any  man." 

SnAKSPEARE. 


A  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION. 


BOSTON: 
T  I  C  K  N  O  R    AND    FIELDS 

MDCCCLXVI. 


THE  American  edition  of  "  SELF-HELP,"  published  bj 
Messrs.  TICKNOR  AND  FIELDS,  is  the  only  one  authorized  by 
me,  as  they  did  me  the  honor  to  enter  into  an  arrangement, 
previous  to  the  publication  of  the  work  in  England,  to  bring 
if  out  simultaneously  in  the  United  States. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  origin  of  this  book  may  be  briefly  told. 

Some  fifteen  years  since,  the  author  was  requested 
to  deliver  an  address  before  the  members  of  some 
evening  classes,  which  had  been  formed  in  a  northern 
town  for  mutual  improvement,  under  the  following 
circumstances :  — 

Two  or  three  young  men  of  the  humblest  rank  re- 
solved to  meet  in  the  winter  evenings,  for  the  purpose 
of  improving  themselves  by  exchanging  knowledge 
with  each  other.  Their  first  meetings  were  held  in 
the  room  of  a  cottage  in  which  one  of  the  members 
lived ;  and,  as  others  shortly  joined  them,  the  place 
soon  became  inconveniently  filled.  When  summer 
set  in,  they  adjourned  to  the  cottage  garden  outside  ; 
and  the  classes  were  then  held  in  the  open  air,  round 
a  little  boarded  hut  used  as  a  garden-house,  in  which 
those  who  officiated  as  teachers  set  the  sums,  and 
gave  forth  the  lessons  of  the  evening.  When  the 
weather  was  fine,  the  youths  might  be  seen,  until  a 
late  hour,  hanging  round  the  door  of  the  hut  like  a 
cluster  of  bees;  but  sometimes  a  sudden  shower  of 


M288339 


Iv  INTRODUCTION. 

rain  would  dash  the  sums  from  their  slates,  and  dis- 
perse them  for  the  evening  unsatisfied. 

Winter,  with  its  cold  nights,  was  drawing  near,  and 
what  were  they  to  do  for  shelter  ?  Their  numbers 
had  by  this  time  so  increased,  that  no  room  of  an  or- 
dinary cottage  could  accommodate  them.  Though  they 
were  for  the  most  part  young  men  earning  compara- 
tively small  weekly  wages,  they  resolved  to  incur  the 
risk  of  hiring  a  room  ;  and,  on  making  inquiry,  they 
found  a  large,  dingy  apartment  to  let,  which  had  been 
used  as  a  temporary  Cholera-hospital.  No  tenant 
could  be  found  for  the  place,  which  was  avoided  as  if  a 
plague  still  clung  to  it.  But  the  mutual  improvement 
youths,  nothing  daunted,  hired  the  cholera-room,  at  so 
much  a  week,  lit  it  up,  placed  a  few  benches  and  a 
deal  table  in  it,  and  began  their  winter  classes.  The 
place  soon  presented  a  busy  and  cheerful  appearance 
in  the  evenings.  The  teaching  may  have  been,  as  no 
doubt  it  was,  of  a  very  rude  and  imperfect  sort ;  but 
it  was  done  with  a  will.  Those  who  knew  a  little 
taught  those  who  knew  less,  —  improving  themselves 
while  they  improved  the  others ;  and,  at  all  events, 
setting  before  them  a  good  working  example.  Thus 
these  youths  —  and  there  were  also  grown  men 
amongst  them  —  proceeded  to  teach  themselves  and 
each  other,  reading  and  writing,  arithmetic  and  geog- 
raphy ;  and  even  mathematics,  chemistry,  and  some 
of  the  modern  languages. 

About  a  hundred  young  men  had  thus  come  to- 
gether, when,  growing  ambitious,  they  desired  to  have 
lectures  delivered  to  them  ;  and  then  it  was  that  the 


INTRODUCTION.  V 

author  became  acquainted  with  their  proceedings.  A 
party  of  them  waited  on  him,  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
viting him  to  deliver  an  introductory  address,  or,  as 
they  expressed  it,  "  to  talk  to  them  a  bit ;  "  prefac- 
ing the  request  by  a  modest  statement  of  what  they 
had  done  and  what  they  were  doing.  He  could  not 
fail  to  be  touched  by  the  admirable  self-helping  spirit 
which  they  had  displayed ;  and,  though  entertaining 
but  slight  faith  in  popular  lecturing,  he  felt  that  a 
few  words  of  encouragement,  honestly  and  sincerely 
uttered,  might  not  be  without  some  good  effect.  And 
in  this  spirit  he  addressed  them  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  citing  examples  of  what  other  men  had 
done,  as  illustrations  of  what  each  might,  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  do  for  himself ;  and  pointing  out  that 
their  happiness  and  well-being  as  individuals  in  after- 
life, must  necessarily  depend  mainly  upon  themselves, 
—  upon  their  own  diligent  self-culture,  self-discipline, 
and  self-control,  —  and,  above  all,  on  that  honest  and 
upright  performance  of  individual  duty,  which  is  the 
glory  of  manly  character. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  slightest  degree  new  or 
original  in  this  counsel,  which  was  as  old  as  the  Prov- 
erbs of  Solomon,  and  possibly  quite  as  familiar.  But 
old-fashioned  though  the  advice  may  have  been,  it 
was  welcomed.  The  youths  went  forward  in  their 
course  ;  worked  on  with  energy  and  resolution  ;  and, 
reaching  manhood,  they  went  forth  in  various  direc- 
tions into  the  world,  where  many  of  them  now  occupy 
positions  of  trust  and  usefulness.  Several  years  after 
the  incidents  referred  to,  the  subject  was  unexpect- 


n  INTRODUCTION. 

edly  recalled  to  the  author's  recollection  by  an  even- 
ing visit  from  a  young  man,  —  apparently  fresh  from 
the  work  of  a  foundry,  —  who  explained  that  he  was 
now  an  employer  of  labor  and  a  thriving  man  ;  and 
he  was  pleased  to  remember  with  gratitude  the  words 
spoken  in  all  honesty  to  him  and  to  his  fellow-pupila 
years  before,  and  even  to  attribute  some  measure  of 
his  success  in  life  to  the  endeavors  which  he  had 
made  to  work  up  to  their  spirit. 

The  author's  personal  interest  having  in  this  way 
been  attracted  to  the  subject  of  'Self-Help,  he  was  ac- 
customed to  add  to  the  memoranda  from  which  he  had 
addressed  these  young  men ;  and  to  note  down  occa- 
sionally in  his  leisure  evening  moments,  after  the 
hours  of  business,  the  results  of  such  reading,  obser- 
vation, and  experience  of  life,  as  he  conceived  to  bear 
upon  it.  One  of  the  most  prominent  illustrations 
cited  in  his  earlier  addresses,  was  that  of  George  Ste- 
phenson,  the  engineer ;  and  the  original  interest  of 
the  subject,  as  well  as  the  special  facilities  and  oppor- 
tunities which  the  author  possessed  for  illustrating 
Mr.  Stephenson's  life  and  career,  induced  him  to 
prosecute  it  at  his  leisure,  and  eventually  to  publish 
his  biography.  The  present  volume  is  written  in  a 
similar  spirit,  as  it  has  been  similar  in  its  origin.  The 
illustrative  sketches  of  character  introduced,  are, 
however,  necessarily  less  elaborately  treated, — being 
busts  rather  than  full-length  portraits,  and,  in  many 
of  the  cases,  only  some  striking  feature  has  been 
noted ;  the  lives  of  individuals,  as  indeed  of  nations, 
often  concentrating  their  lustre  and  interest  in  a  few 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

passages.  Such  as  the  book  is,  the  author  now  leaves 
it  in  the  hands  of  the  reader ;  in  the  hope  that  the 
lessons  of  industry,  perseverance,  and  self-culture, 
which  it  contains,  will  be  found  useful  and  instruc- 
tive, as  well  as  generally  interesting. 

London,  September,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
SELF-HELP,— -NATIONAL   AND   INDIVIDUAL. 

Spirit  of  self-help  —  Institutions  and  men — National  progress  and 
decay  —  Government  a  reflex  of  the  individualism  of  a  nation  — 
JTrue  liberty_jrpghg  /in  ATinrnntpj*— Tr.norgotiV  self-help  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  English- character— The  greatest  workers  have 
sprung  from  the  ranks  —  Uses  of  biography  —  Marked  individuality 
cf  the  Englishman  —  His  school  of  practical  life  —  Opinions  of  for- 
eigners as  to  English  character  :  Goethe,  Wiese,  Rendu— Energy 
of  character  exhibited  in  the  humbler  ranks  —  Barbers  —  Shaks- 
peare  —  Day -laborers  —  Weavers  —  Shoemakers  —  Tailors  — 
Humble  origin  of  many  eminent  men  —  Discovery  of  a  geologist  by 
Sir  R.  Murchison  —  Industry  honorably  recognized  in  England  — 
Joseph  Brotherton  —  W.  S.  Lindsay  —  The  middle  classes  —  New- 
ton and  Adams  —  Sons  of  clergymen  —  Sons  of  attorneys  —  Sons  of 
tradesmen  —  Richard  Owen  —  Individual  application  the  price  of 
success  —  Riches  not  necessary —  The  wealthy  classes  —  Scientific 
men:  Bacon,  Boyle,  Cavendish,  Rosse  —  Eminent  politicians :  Peel, 
Brougham,  Bulwer  Lytton,  Disraeli  —  The  national  character  put 
to  the  test  in  India  —  Montalembert's  opinion  —  Modern  heroism 

Page  15-39 


CHAPTER  H. 
LEADERS   OF   INDUSTRY,  —  INVENTORS   AND   PRODUCERS. 

Industry  of  the  English  nation  —  Work  the  best  educator-— The  great 
inventors  principally  working  men  —  Forgotten  inventors  —  Inven- 
tion of  the  steam-engine  —  James   Watt  —  Establishment  of  the 
a* 


:  CONTENTS. 

cotton  manufacture  —  Sir  Richard  Arkwright  —  Business  qualities 
of  Matthew  Boulton  —  The  Peels  of  South  Lancashire  —  Robert 
Peel  —  His  invention  of  calico-printing — His  character  described 
by  his  son —  The  first  Sir  Robert  Peel  (of  Bury);  his  small  begin- 
nings as  a  manufacturer  —  Peel's  marriage  —  His  success  —  Josiah 
Wedgwood,  founder  of  the  Staffordshire  Potteries;  his  industry, 
energy,  and  success  —  Herbert  Minton  —  Industrial  heroes.  40-66 


CHAPTER  m. 
APPLICATION    AND    PERSEVERANCE. 

Fortune  on  the  side  of  the  industrious  —  Genius  is  patience  —  Newton 
and  Kepler — G.  P.  Bidder  —  Industry ~o7~emment  men — Repeti- 
tion of  effort  —  Sir  Robert  Peel's  cultivation  of  memory  in  Drayton 
Church  —  Facility  comes  by  practice  —  Impatience  deprecated  — 
Cheerfulness  —  Sydney  Smith— Dr.  Hook  —  Hope,  an  important. 
element  in  character — Carey,  the  missionary — Anecdote  of  Dr. 
Young  —  Anecdote  of  Audubon,  the  ornithologist  —  Anecdote  of 
Mr.  Carlyle  and  the  MS.  of  his  "  French  Revolution  "  —  Persever- 
ance displayed  in  the  discovery  ef  the  Nineveh  marbles  by  Rawlin- 
son  and  Layard  —  Sir  Walter  Scott's  perseverance  —  John  Britton 
—  Loudon  —  Samuel  Drew  —  Joseph  Hume 67-95 


CHAPTER  IV. 
HELPS   AND    OPPORTUNITIES, —  SCIENTIFIC   PURSUITS. 

No  great  result  achieved  by  accident  —  Newton's  discoveries  —  Dr. 
Young  —  Intelligent  observation  —  Galileo  —  Inventions  of  Brown, 
Watt,  and  Brunei,  accidentally  suggested  —  Philosophy  in  little 
things  —  Franklin  and  Galvani  —  Discovery  of  steam-power —  Op- 
portunity must  be  seized  or  made  —  Humble  tools  of  great  workers 

—  Lee  and  Stone's  opportunities  for  learning —  Sir  Walter  Scott's  — 
Dr.  Priestley  —  Sir  Humphry  Davy  —  Faraday  —  Davy  and  Cole- 
ridge—Cuvier  and  Hugh  Miller— Sir  Joseph  Paxton  —  Dalton's 
industry  —  Examples  of  improvement  of  time  —  Elihu  Burritt  — 
Daguesseau  and   Bentham  —  Melancthon   and  Baxter  —  Writing 
down  observations  —  Great  note-makers  —  John  Hunter ;   his  pa- 
tient study  of  little  things  —  Harvey  —  Jenner — Sir  Charles  Bell 

—  Dr.  Marshall  Hall  —  Sir  William  Herschel  —  William  Smith,  the 
geologist  —  Hugh  Miller  —  Sir  R.  Murchison 96-134 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  V. 
WORKERS  IN  ART. 

Sir  Joshua  Roynolds's  belief  in  the  force  of  industry  —  English  artists 
self-educated  —  Michael  Angelo  an  indefatigable  worker  —  Art,  a 
long  labor  —  Wilson  —  Early  indications  of  artistic  taste  —  Ho- 
garth's habits  of  observation  and  industry — Banks  —  Mulready  — 
Nollekens  —  Career  of  Flaxman  —  Chantrey  —  Wilkie  and  Haydon 

—  Turner  —  Privations    endured    by   artists  —  Martin  —  Pugin  — 
Kemp  —  Gibson  —  Thorburn  —  Noel  Paton  —  James    Sharpies  — 
Industry  of  musicians ;  Haydn,  Beethoven,  Bach,  Meyerbeer  —  Dr. 
Ariie  —  William  Jackson 135-179 

CHAPTER  VI. 
INDUSTRY   AND    THE    ENGLISH   PEERAGE. 

The  peerage  fed  from  the  industrial  ranks  —  Intermingling  of  classes 

—  Peers  among  mechanics  —  Peerages  founded  by  London  trades- 
men and  merchants  —  Perseverance  of  Richard  Foley,  founder  of 
the   Foley  peerage  —  Adventurous  career  of  Sir  William  Phipps, 
founder  of  the  Normanby  peerage  —  Sir  William  Petty,  founder  of 
the  Lansdowne  peerage  —  Jedediah  Strutt,  founder  of  the  Belper 
peerage  —  Naval  and  military  peers  —  Peerages  founded  by  lawyers 

—  Lord  Mansfield  —  Lord  St.  Leonards — Lord  Tenterden — Lord 
Campbell  —  Lord  Eldon  —  Lord  Langdale 180-201 

CHAPTER  VII. 
ENERGY  AND  COURAGE. 

Energy  characteristic  of  the  Teutonic  race  —  The  foundations  of 
strength  of  character  —  Force  of  purpose  —  Power  of  will  —  Coura- 
geous working  —  The  will  practically  free  —  Words  of  Lammenais 
and  Buxton  —  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way  —  Suwarrow  — 
Napoleon  —  Wellington  —  Promptitude  of  action  —  The  energy  dis- 
played by  Englishmen  in  India  —  Warren  Hastings  —  Napier  — 
The  Indian  swordsman  —  The  recent  rebellion  —  The  Lawrences 
—  Nicholson  —  Siege  of  Delhi  —  Hodson  —  Missionary  laborers  — 
Henry  Martyn  —  John  Williams  —  David  Livingstone  —  Howard  — 
The  career  of  Jonas  Han  way — The  labors  of  Granville  Sharp  — 
Clarkson  —  Fowell  Buxton. . .  ,  202-251 


xii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BUSINESS    QUALITIES. 

Hazlitt's  definition  of  the  man  of  business  —  His  chief  qualities  — 
Men  of  genius  men  of  business  —  Shakspeare,  Chaucer,  Spenser, 
Milton,  Cowper,  Scott,  Wordsworth  —  Ricardo,  Grote,  Mill  —  In- 
dustry and  application  the  price  of  success  —  Lord  Melbourne's 
advice  —  The  school  of  difficulty  wholesome  —  Conditions  of  suc- 
cess in  law  —  Too  much  ease  not  good  for_a  man —  Causes  of  fail- 
ure —  Every  man  his  own  best  friend  or  worst  enemy — Dr.  Johnson 
on  the  alleged  injustice  of  "the  world  "  —  Practical  qualities  nec- 
essary in  business  —  Attention  to  small  matters  —  Accuracy  — 
AVords  of  Mr.  Dargan  —  Charles  James  Fox  —  Method  —  Lord  Bur- 
leigh  and  De  Witt,  their  dispatch  of  business  —  Promptitude  — 
Economy  of  time  —  Punctuality  —  Energy  —  Tact  —  Routine  and 
Red-Tapeism —  The  Duke  of  Wellington's  career  as  a  man  of  busi- 
ness —  Honesty  the  best  policy  —  Integrity  in  business  —  Words  of 
Baron  Dupin  —  Trials  and  temptations  of  trade  —  Confidence  re- 
posed by  business  men  in  each  other — Dishonesty  in  business  — 
The  "  happy  warrior  "  —  David  Barclay 252-278 


CHAPTER  IX. 
MONEY,  —  USE   AND   ABUSE. 

The  right  use  of  money  a  test  of  practical  wisdom  —  Economy  nec- 
essary to  independence  —  The  improvident  classes  helpless  —  Im- 
portance of  frugality  as  a  public  question — Words  of  Richard 
Cobden  and  John  Bright  —  Independence  within  reach  of  most 
working  men  —  High  purposes  of  economy  —  Advice  given  to  Fran- 
cis Horner  by  his  father  —  Robert  Burns  —  Living  within  the 
means — Wasters  —  Running  into  debt — The  debtor  a  slave  — 
Haydon's  debts  —  Fichte  —  Dr.  Johnson  on  debt — The  Duke  of 
Wellington  on  debt  —  Washington  —  Earl  St.  Vincent  —  Beginning 
well —  Living  too  high,  a  vice  in  England  —  Napier's  general  order 
to  his  officers  in  India  —  Resistance  to  temptation —  Hugh  Miller's 
case  —  High  standard  of  living  necessary — Secret  of  money-mak- 
ing embodied  in  popular  proverbs  —  Career  of  Thomas  Wright  — 
All  honest  industry  honorable  —  An  illustrious  sweep  -Qlere 
money-making  —  The  "  love  of  money  "  —  Worldly  success  —  The 
power  of  money  over-estimated — Joseph  Brotherton  —  Rfcgj>ecta-__ 
bility,  its  highest  standard/;. 279-3 


CONTENTS  xiii 


CHAPTER  X. 
SELF-CULTURE. 

Culture  must  include  all  parts  of  man's  nature  —  Physical  culture  — 
Words  of  Milton  —  Neglect  of  bodily  exercise  produces  mental 
green-sickness  as  well  as  ill  health  —  Words  of  Hodson  —  Free  use 
of  the  body  and  limbs  neglected  —  Uses  of  mechanical  work  — Early 
physical  self-culture  of  Newton  —  Success  of  professional  men  very 
much  a  question  of  health  —  Lawj^ers  and  legislators  —  Lords  Pal- 
merston  and  Brougham  —  Health  of  Sir  Walter  Scott —  The  divines 
Barrow,  Fuller,  and  Clarke — Diligent  application  necessary  for 
self-culture  —  Eesolute  purpose  —  Plodding  is  on  the  road  of  genius 

—  Thoroughness  —  Lord  St.  Leonards  and  Bulwer  Lytton  —  Defi- 
nite objects  in  study — Having  to  rely  upon  one's  own  resources 
useful  — J]yils  of  want  of  confidence  —  Popular  roads  to  knowledge 

—  Labor-saving  processes  fallacious  —  Labor  indispensable  —  Im- 
patience to  be  avoided  —  The  best  culture  is   self-culture  —  Dr. 
Arnold  —  Knowledge  and  wisdom  —  "Knowledge  is  power,"  so  is 
ignorance  —  Importance   of  literary  culture  probably  overrated  — 
Books  not  the  best  teachers  —  The  discipline  of  life  and  action  more 
valuable — Self-discipline  and  self-control —  Self-respect  —Knowl- 
edge as  a  means  of  "  getting  on  " —  Words  of  Southey —  Competi- 
tive examination,  its  possible  evils 309-336 

CHAPTER  XI. 
FACILITIES    AND    DIFFICULTIES. 

Facilities  of  modern  times  —  Mechanism  of  the  age  —  Wordsof  Ruskiu 

—  Mechanical  expedients  of  "  progress  "  —  Mechanical  education  — 
Cramming  —  Knowledge    made    pleasant  —  Amusement  —  Novel- 
reading —  Pursuit  of   pleasure — Benjamin    Constant — Augustin 
Thierry  —  Coleridge  and  Southey  —  Robert  Nicoll  —  Uses  of  diffi- 
culty—  Beethoven's  opinion  of  Rossini  —  Mendelssohn  —  Experience 
learned  by  encounter  with  difficulty  —  Adversity  and  prosperity  — 
The  battle  of  life  an  up-hill  fight  —  Difficulty  the  best  school  of 
discipline  —  Disraeli,  Henry  Clay,  Curran  —  Professors  Murray  aud 
Moor —  William  Chambers  —  William  Cobbett —  Sir  Samuel  Rom- 
illy  _  John  Leyden  —  Professor  L^e  —  Late  learners  —  Illustrious 
dunces  —  Barrow,  Clarke,  Swift,  Chalmers,  Sheridan.  Scott,  Cl  at 
terton,  Clive,  Howard,  and  others  —  The  difference  between  boya 
consists  in  energy  —  Their  success  in  life  depends  on  perseverance. 

337-370 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
EXAMPLE, —  MODELS. 

Example  a  great  teacher  —  Influence  of  conduct  —  Parental  example 

—  No  act  without  its  train  of  consequences  —  Words  of  Babbage  — 
Human  responsibility  —  Every  person  owes  a  good  example  to 
others  —  Doing,  not  telling  —  Mrs.   Chisholm  —  Dr.   Guthrie   and 
John  Pounds. —  Example  works  in  unseen  directions  —  Good  models 
of    conduct  —  The    company  of   our  betters  —  Francis    Homer's 
views  on  personal  intercourse  —  The   Marquis  of  Lansdowne   and 
Malesherbes  —  Fowell  Buxton  and  the  Gurney  family  —  Personal 
influence  of  John  Sterling  —  Influence  of  artistic  genius  upon  others 

—  Example  of  the  brave  an  inspiration  to  the  timid  —  Biography 
valuable  as  furnishing  high  models  of  character  —  Lives  influenced 
by  biography  —  Romilly,  Franklin,   Drew,  Alfieri,   Loyola,  Wolff» 
Horner,  Reynolds  —  Examples  of  cheerfulness  —  Dr.  Arnold's  in- 
fluence over  others  —  Career  of  Sir  John  Sinclair. . .         .     371-395 


CHAPTER  XUI. 

CHARACTER, —  THE   TRUE   GENTLEMAN. 

Character  the  noblest  possession  of  a  man  —  Character  of  Francis 
Horner  —  Franklin — Character  is  power  —  Its  higher  qualities  — 
Lord  Erskine's  rules  of  conduct  —  A  high  standard  of  life  necessary 
—  Truthfulness  —  Wellington's  character  of  Peel  —  Be  what  you 
seem  —  Integrity  and  honesty  of  action  —  Importance  of  habits  — 
Habits  constitute  character  —  Growth  of  habit  in  youth  —  Trivial 
[things  indicate  character  —  Manners  and  morals  —  Civility  and  its 
opposite  —  Anecdote  of  Abernethy  —  Prejudices  —  Men  of  the  great 
heart  of  no  exclusive  rank  or  class  —  The  Grants,  "  Brothers  Cheery- 
ble  "  —  The  Gentleman  —  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  —  Honor,  probity, 
rectitude  —  The  gentleman  will  not  be  bribed  —  Anecdotes  of  Wel- 
lington and  Wellesley  —  The  poor  may  be  rich  in  spirit  —  A  noble 
peasant  —  Anecdotes  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  two  English 
navvies  —  Truth  makes  the  success  of  the  gentleman  —  Courage 
and  gentleness  —  Gentlemen  in  India —  Outram,  Henry  Lawrence, 
Lord  Clyde  —  Private  soldiers  at  Agra  — The  wreck  of  the  Birken- 
head — The  exercise  of  power  the  crucial  test  of  the  gentleman  — 
Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie  —  Fuller's  character  of  Sir  Francis  Drake. 

396-422 


SELF-HELP,  &c. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SELF-HELP, NATIONAL    AND    INDIVIDUAL. 

"  The  worth  of  a  State,  hi  the  long  run,  is  the  worth  of  the  indiyiduall 
composing  it."  —  J.  S.  Mill.  • 

"We  put  too  much  faith  in  systems,  and  look  too  little  to  men."  —  B.  Dis- 
raeli. 

"  HEAVEN  helps  those  who  help  themselves,"  is  a  well- 
tried  maxim,  embodying  in  a  small  compass  the  results 
of  vast  human  experience.  The  spirit  of  self-help  is  the 
root  of  all  genuine  growth  in  the  individual ;  and;  exhib- 
ited in  the  lives  of  many,  it  constitutes  the  true  source  of 
national  vigor  and  strength.  Help  from  without  is  often 
enfeebling  in  its  effects,  but  help  from  within  invariably 
invigorates.  Whatever  is  done  for  men  or  classes,  to  a 
certain  extent  takes  away  the  stimulus  and  necessity  of 
doing  for  themselves;  and  where  men  are  subjected  to 
over-guidance  and  over-government,  the  inevitable  ten- 
dency is  to  render  them  comparatively  helpless. 

Even  the  best  institutions  can  give  a  man  no  active 
aid.  Perhaps  the  utmost  they  can  do  is,  to  leave  him 
free  to  develop  himself  and  improve  his  individual  con- 
dition.  But  in  all  times  men  have  been  prone  to  believe 
that  their  happiness  and  well-being  were  to  be  secured  by 


16  NATIONAL  PROGRESS.  CHAP.  I, 

j  means  of  institutions  rather  than  by  their  own  conduct, 
Hence  the  value  of  legislation  as  an  agent  in  human  ad- 
vancement has  always  been  greatly  over-estimated.  To 
constitute  the  millionth  part  of  a  legislature,  by  voting 
for  one  or  two  men  once  in  three  or  five  years,  however 
conscientiously  this  duty  may  be  performed,  can  exercise 
but  little  active  influence  upon  any  man's  life  and  charac- 
ter. /Moreover,  it  is  every  day  becoming  more  clearly 
understood,  that  the  function  of  government  is  negative 
and  restrictive,  rather  than  positive  and  active  ;  being  re- 
solvable principally  into  protection,  —  protection  of  life, 
liberty,  and  property.  Hence  the  chief  "  reforms  "  of  the 
last  fifty  years  have  consisted  mainly  in  abolitions  and 
disenactments.  But  there  is  no  power  of  law  that  can 
make  the  idle  man  industrious,  the  thriftless  provident,  or 
the  drunken  sober  ;  though  every  individual  can  be  each 
and  all  of  these  if  he  will,  by  the  exercise  of  his  own 
free  powers  of  action  and  self-denial.  Indeed,  all  expe- 
rience serves  to  prove  that  the  worth  and  strength  of 
a  state  depend  far  less  upon  the  form  of  its  institutions 
than  upon  the  character  of  its  men.  For  the  nation  is 
only  the  aggregate  of  individual  conditions,  and  civiliza- 
tion itself  is  but  a  question  of  personal  improvement. 

National  progress  is  the  sum  of  individual  industry, 
energy,  and  uprightness,  as  national  decay  is  of  individual 
idleness,  selfishness,  and  vice.  What  we  are  accustomed 
to  decry  as  great  social  evils,  will,  for  the  most  part,  be 
found  to  be  only  the  outgrowth  of  our  own  perverted  life ; 
and  though  we  may  endeavor  to  cut  them  down  and 
extirpate  them  by  means  of  law,  they  will  only  spring 
up  again  with  fresh  luxuriance  in  some  other  form, 
unless  the  conditions  of  human  life  and  character  are 
radically  improved.  If  this  view  be  correct,  then  it  fol- 


CHAP.    .  WHO  ARE  THE  FREE.  17 

lows  that  the  highest  patriotism  and  philanthropy  con- 
sist, not  so  much  in  altering  laws  and  modifying  insti- 
tutions, as  in  helping  and  stimulating  men  to  elevate  and 
improve  themselves  by  their  own  free  and  independent 
action. 

The  government  of  a  nation  itself  is  usually  found  to 
be  but  the  reflex  of  the  individuals  composing  it.  The 
government  that  is  ahead  of  the  people  will  be  inevita- 
bly dragged  down  to  their  level,  as  the  government  that 
is  behind  them  will  in  the  long  run  be  dragged  up.  In 
the  order  of  nature,  the  collective  character  of  a  nation 
will  as  surely  find  its  befitting  results  in  its  law  and 
government,  as  water  finds  its  own  level.  The  noble 
people  will  be  nobly  ruled,  and  the  ignorant  and  corrupt 
ignobly.  Indeed,  liberty  is  quite  as  much  a  moral  as  a 
political  growth,  —  the  result  of  free  individual  action, 
energy,  and  independence.  It  may  be  of  comparatively 
little  consequence  how  a  man  is  governed  from  without, 
whilst  everything  depends  upon  how  he  governs  himself 
from  within.  The  greatest  slave  is  not  he  who  is  ruled 
by  a  despot,  great  though  that  evil  be,  but  he  who  is  the 
thrall  of  his  own  moral  ignorance,  selfishness,  and  vice. 
There  have  been,  and  perhaps  there  still  are,  so-called 
patriots  abroad,  who  hold  it  to  be  the  greatest  stroke  for 
liberty  to  kill  a  tyrant,  forgetting  that  the  tyrant  usually 
represents  only  too  faithfully  the  millions  of  people  over 
whom  he  reigns.  But  nations  who  are  enslaved  at  heart 
cannot  be  freed  by  any  mere  changes  of  masters  or  of  in- 
stitutions ;  and  so  long  as  the  fatal  delusion  prevails,  that 
liberty  solely  depends  upon,  and  consists  in  government, 
so  long  will  such  changes,  no  matter  at  what  cost  they  be 
effected,  have  as  little  practical  and  lasting  result  as  the 
shifting  of  the  figures  in  a  phantasmagoria.  The  solid 


18         HOW  ENGLAND   BECAME   WHAT   SHE  IS.    CHAP.  I. 

foundations  of  liberty  must  rest  upon  individual  charac- 
ter ;  which  is  also  the  only  sure  guarantee  for  social  secu- 
rity and  national  progress.  In  this  consists  the  real 
strength  of  English  liberty.  Englishmen  feel  that  they 
are  free,  not  merely  because  they  live  under  those  free 
institutions  which  they  have  so  laboriously  built  up,  but 
because  each  member  of  society  has  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  got  the  root  of  the  matter  within  himself;  and 
they  continue  to  hold  fast  and  enjoy  their  liberty,  not  by 
freedom  of  speech  merely,  but  by  their  steadfast  life  and 
energetic  action  as  free  individual  men. 

Such  as  England  is,  she  has  been  made  by  the  think- 
ing and  working  of  many  generations ;  the  action  of  even 
the  least  significant  person  having  contributed  towards 
the  production  of  the  general  result.  Laborious  and  pa- 
tient men  of  all  ranks,  —  cultivators  of  the  soil  and  ex- 
plorers of  the  mine,  —  inventors  and  discoverers,  — 
tradesmen,  mechanics,  and  laborers,  —  poets,  thinkers, 
and  politicians,  —  all  have  worked  together,  one  genera- 
tion carrying  forward  the  labors  of  another,  building  up 
the  character  of  the  country,  and  establishing  its  pros- 
perity on  solid  foundations.  This  succession  of  noble 
workers,  —  the  artisans  of  civilization,  —  has  created 
order  out  of  chaos,  in  industry,  science,  and  art ;  and  as 
our  forefathers  labored  for  us,  and  we  have  succeeded  to 
the  inheritance  which  they  have  bequeathed  to  us,  so  is  it 
our  duty  to  hand  it  down,  not  only  unimpaired,  but  im- 
proved, to  our  successors. 

This  spirit  of  self-help,  as  exhibited  in  the  energetic 
action  of  individuals,  has  in  all  times  been  a  marked  fea- 
ture in  the  English  character,  and  furnishes  the  true 
measure  of  our  power  as  a  nation.  Rising  above  the 
heads  of  the  mass,  there  have  always  been  a  series  of 


CHAP.  I.  LIFE   A   SOLDIER'S    BATTLE.  19 

individuals  distinguished  beyond  others,  who  have  com- 
manded the  public  homage.  But  our  progress  has  been 
owing  also  to  multitudes  of  smaller  and  unknown  men. 
Though  only  the  generals'  names  may  be  remembered  in 
the  history  of  any  great  campaign,  it  has  been  mainly 
through  the  individual  valor  and  heroism  of  the  privates 
that  victories  have  been  won.  And  life,  too,  is  "  a  soldier's 
battle,"  men  in  the  ranks  having  in  all  times  been  amongst 
the  greatest  of  workers.  Many  are  the  lives  of  men  un- 
written, which  have  nevertheless  as  powerfully  influenced 
civilization  and  progress  as  the  more  fortunate  great 
whose  names  are  recorded  in  biography.  Even  the 
humblest  person,  who  sets  before  his  fellows  an  example 
of  industry,  sobriety,  and  upright  honesty  of  purpose  in 
life,  has  a  present  as  well  as  a  future  influence  upon  the 
well-being  of  his  country ;  for  his  life  and  character  pass 
unconsciously  into  the  lives  of  others,  and  propagate 
good  example  for  all  time  to  come. 

Biographies  of  great,  but  especially  of  good  men,  are, 
nevertheless,  most  instructive  and  useful,  as  helps,  guides, 
and  incentives  to  others.  Some  of  the  best  are  almost 
equivalent  to  gospels  —  teaching  high  living,  high  think- 
ing, and  energetic  action  for  their  own  and  the  world's 
good.  British  biography  is  studded  over,  as  "  with  patines 
of  bright  gold,"  with  illustrious  examples  of  the  power  of 
self-help,  of  patient  purpose,  resolute  working,  and  stead- 
fast integrity,  issuing  in  the  formation  of  truly  noble  and 
manly  character ;  exhibiting  in  language  not  to  be  mis- 
understood, what  it  is  in  the  power  of  each  to  accomplish 
for  himself;  and  illustrating  the  efficacy  of  self-respect 
and  self-reliance  in  enabling  men  of  even  the  humblest 
rank  to  work  out  for  themselves  an  honorable  compe- 
tency and  a  solid  reputation. 


20  ENGLISH  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION.         CHAP.  t. 

Foreign  observers  have  noted,  as  one  of  the  most 
marked  characteristics  of  the  Englishman,  his  strong 
individuality  and  distinctive  personal  energy,  —  refusing 
to  merge  himself  in  institutions,  but  retaining  through- 
out his  perfect  freedom  of  thought,  and  speech,  and  ac- 
tion. "  Que  j'aime  la  hardiesse  Anglaise !  que  j'aime 
les  gens  qui  disent  ce  qu'ils  pensent ! "  was  the  expres- 
sive exclamation  of  Voltaire.  It  is  this  strong  individ- 
ualism which  makes  and  keeps  the  Englishman  really 
free,  and  brings  out  fully  the  action  of  the  social  body. 
The  energies  of  the  strong  form  so  many  living  centres 
of  action,  round  which  other  individual  energies  group 
and  cluster  themselves ;  thus  the  life  of  all  is  quickened, 
and,  on  great  occasions,  a  powerful  energetic  action  of 
the  nation  is  secured. 

It  is  this  energy  of  individual  life  and  example  acting 
throughout  society,  which  constitutes  the  best  practical 
education  of  Englishmen.  Schools,  academies,  and  col- 
leges, give  but  the  merest  beginnings  of  culture  in  com- 
parison with  it.  Far  higher  and  more  practical  is  the 
life-education  daily  given  in  our  homes,  in  the  streets,  be- 
hind counters,  in  workshops,  at  the  loom  and  the  plough, 
in  counting-houses  and  manufactories,  and  in  all  the  busy 
haunts  of  men.  This  is  the  education  that  fits  English- 
men for  doing  the  work  and  acting  the  part  of  free  men. 
This  is  that  final  instruction  as  members  of  society,  which 
Schiller  designated  "  the  education  of  the  human  race," 
consisting  in  action,  conduct,  self-culture,  self-control,  — 
all  that  tends  to  discipline  a  man  truly,  and  fit  him  for 
the  proper  performance  of  the  duties  and  business  of  life, 
—  a  kind  of  education  not  to  be  learned  from  books,  or 
acquired  by  any  amount  of  mere  literary  training.  With 
his  usual  weight  of  words,  Bacon  observes,  that  "  Studies 


CHAP.  I.      GOETHE'S  OPINION  OF  ENGLISHMEN.  21 

teach  not  their  own  use;  but  that  is  a  wisdom  without 
them,  and  above  them,  won  by  observation ; "  a  remark 
that  holds  true  of  actual  life,  as  well  as  of  the  cultivation 
of  the  intellect  itself.  For  all  observation  serves  to  illus- 
trate and  enforce  the  lesson,  that  a  man  perfects  himself 
by  work  much  more  than  by  reading,  —  that  it  is  life 
rather  than  literature,  action  rather  than  study,  and  char- 
acter rather  than  biography,  which  tend  perpetually  to 
renovate  mankind. 

Goethe,  in  one  of  his  conversations  with  Eckermann 
at  Weimar,  once  observed,  "  It  is  very  strange,  and  I 
know  not  whether  it  lies  in  mere  race,  in  climate  and 
soil,  or  in  their  healthy  education,  but  certainly  Eng- 
lishmen seem  to  have  a  great  advantage  over  most  other 
men.  We  see  here  in  Weimar  only  a  minimum  of 
them,  and  those,  probably,  by  no  means  the  best  speci- 
mens, and  yet  what  splendid  fellows  they  are!  And 
although  they  come  here  as  seventeen-year-old  youths, 
yet  they  by  no  means  feel  strange  in  this  strange  land ; 
on  the  contrary,  their  entrance  and  bearing  in  society 
is  so  confident  and  quiet  that  one  would  think  they 
were  everywhere  the  masters,  and  the  whole  world  be- 
longed to  them."  "  I  should  not  like  to  affirm,  for  all 
that,"  replied  Eckermann,  "that  the  English  gentle- 
men in  Weimar  are  cleverer,  better  educated,  and  bet- 
ter hearted  than  our  young  men."  "  That  is  not  the 
point,"  said  Goethe;  "their  superiority  does  not  lie  in 
such  things ;  neither  does  it  lie  in  their  birth  and  fortune  ; 
it  lies  precisely  in  their  having  the  courage  to  be  what 
nature  made  them.  There  is  no  halfness  about  them. 
They  are  complete  men.  Sometimes  complete  fools,  also, 
that  1  heartily  admit;  but  even  that  is  something,  and 


22  VALUE   OF  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM.        CHAP.  I 

has  its  weight."  Thus,  in  Goethe's  eyes,  the  English- 
man fulfilled,  to  a  great  extent,  the  injunction  given  by 
Lessing  to  those  who  would  be  men :  "  Think  wrongly  if 
you  please,  but  think  for  yourself" 

Another  foreigner,  a  German,  Herr  Wiese,*  in  con- 
trasting the  English  and  German  systems  of  education,  — 
Ihe  one  aiming  chiefly  at  the  culture  of  character,  the 
sther  of  intellect,  —  has  observed,  that  in  the  lives  of 
celebrated  men,  English  biographers  lay  far  more  stress 
upon  energy  of  purpose,  patience,  courage,  perseverance, 
and  self-control,  than  upon  their  scientific  ardor  or 
studiousness  in  youth ;  that,  in  short,  the  English  give 
the  chief  prominence  to  the  individual  element,  and  at- 
tach far  more  value  to  character  than  to  intellect,  —  a 
remark  not  less  true  than  tending  to  important  con- 
clusions ;  as  pointing,  indeed,  to  the  fundamental  charac- 
teristics of  our  national  strength, —  the  product,  as  it  is, 
of  individual  thinking,  individual  action,  and  individual 
character. 

Take,  again,  the  opinion  of  a  well-known  French  writ- 
er, M.  Rendu,  f  as  to  what  constitutes  the  essential  value 
of  the  English  system.  He  holds  that  it  best  forms  the 
social  being,  and  builds  up  the  life  of  the  individual, 
whilst  at  the  same  time  it  perpetuates  the  traditional  life 
of  the  nation  ;  and  that  thus  we  come  to  exhibit  what 
lias  so  long  been  the  marvel  of  foreigners,  —  a  healthy 
activity  of  individual  freedom,  and  yet  a  collective  obe- 
dience to  established  authority, —  the  unfettered  energetic 
action  of  persons,  together  with  the  uniform  subjection  of 

*  Deutsche  Briefe  iiber  Englische  Erziehung. 
f  De  1' Instruction  Primaire  &  Londres,  dans  ses  Rapports  aveo 
l'Etat  Social. 


CHAP.  I.         GREAT  MEN   OF   HUMBLE   ORIGIN.  23 

all  to  the  national  code  of  Duty.  Whilst  French  insti- 
tutions educate  the  soldier  and  the  functionary,  English 
institutions,  which  give  free  action  to  every  man  and 
woman,  and  recognize  an  educator  in  each,  cultivate  the 
citizen,  ready  alike  for  the  business  of  practical  life  and 
for  the  responsible  duties  of  the  home  and  the  family. 
And  although  our  schools  and  colleges  may,  like  those 
of  France  and  Germany,  turn  out  occasional  forced  speci- 
mens of  over-cultured  minds,  what  we  may  call  the 
national  system  does  on  the  whole  turn  out  the  largest 
number  of  men,  who,  to  use  Rendu's  words,  "reveal  to 
the  world  those  two  virtues  of  a  lordly  race, —  persever- 
ance in  purpose,  and  a  spirit  of  conduct  which  never 
fails." 

It  is  this  individual  freedom  and  energy  of  action,  so 
cordially  recognized  by  these  observant  foreigners,  that 
really  constitutes  the  prolific  source  of  our  national  growth. 
For  it  is  not  to  one  rank  or  class  alone  that  this  spirit 
of  free  action  is  confined,  but  it  pervades  all  ranks  and 
classes ;  perhaps  its  most  vigorous  outgrowths  being 
observable  in  the  commonest  orders  of  the  people. 

Men  great  in  science,  literature,  and  art, —  apostles  of 
great  thoughts  and  lords  of  the  great  heart, —  have  sprung 
indiscriminately  from  the  English  farm  and  the  Scotch 
hill-side,  from  the  workshop  and  the  mine,  from  the  black- 
smith's stithy  and  the  cobbler's  stool.  The  illustrations 
which  present  themselves  are  indeed  so  numerous,  that 
the  difficulty  consists  in  making  a  selection  from  them, 
such  as  should  fall  within  the  compass  of  a  reasonable 
book.  Take  for  instance,  the  remarkable  fact,  that  from 
the  barber's  shop  rose  Sir  Richard  Arkwright,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  spinning-jenny,  and  the  founder  of  the 
cotton  manufacture  of  Great  Britain  ;  Lord  Tenterden, 


24  SHAKSPEARE.  CHAP.  L 

one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  English  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tices ;  and  Turner,  the  very  greatest  among  landscape- 
painters. 

No  one  knows  to  a  certainty  what  Shakspeare  was ; 
but  it  is  unquestionable  that  he  sprang  from  a  veiy  humble 
rank.  His  father  was  a  butcher  and  grazier  ;  and  Shaks- 
peare himself  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  early  life  a 
wool-comber ;  whilst  others  aver  that  he  was  an  usher 
in  a  school,  and  afterwards  a  scrivener's  clerk.  He 
truly  seems  to  have  been  "not  one,  but  all  mankind's 
epitome."  For  such  is  the  accuracy  of  his  sea-phrases 
that  a  naval  writer  alleges  that  he  must  have  been  a 
sailor ;  whilst  a  clergyman  infers  from  internal  evidence 
in  his  writings,  that  he  was  probably  a  parson's  clerk ; 
xnd  a  distinguished  judge  of  horseflesh  insists  that  he 
jaust  have  been  a  horse-dealer.  Shakspeare  was  cer- 
tainly an  actor,  and  in  the  course  of  his  life  "played 
many  parts,"  gathering  his  wonderful  stores  of  knowl- 
edge from  a  wide  field  of  experience  and  observation. 
In  any  event,  he  must  have  been  a  close  student,  and  a 
hard  worker ;  and  to  this  day  his  writings  continue  to 
exercise  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  formation  of  Eng- 
lish character. 

The  common  class  of  day-laborers  has  given  us  Brind- 
ley  the  engineer,  Cook  the  navigator,  and  Burns  the 
poet.  Masons  and  bricklayers  can  boast  of  Ben  Jonson, 
who  worked  at  the  building  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  with  a 
trowel  in  his  hand  and  a  book  in  his  pocket,  Edwards 
and  Telford  the  engineers,  Hugh  Miller  the  geologist, 
and  Allan  Cunningham  the  writer  and  sculptor ;  whilst 
among  distinguished  carpenters  we  find  the  names  of 
Inigo  Jones  the  architect,  Harrison  the  chronometer- 
maker,  John  Hunter  the  physiologist,  Homoey  and  Opie 


CHAP.  I.  EMINENT  MECHANICS.  25 

the  painters,  Professor  Lee  the  Orientalist,  and  John 
Gibson  the  sculptor. 

From  the  weaver  class  have  sprung  Simpson  the  math- 
ematician, Bacon  the  sculptor,  the  two  Milners,  Adam 
Walker,  John  Foster,  Wilson  the  ornithologist,  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone the  missionary  traveller,  and  Tannahill  the  poet. 
Shoemakers  have  given  us  Sir  Cloudesley  Shovel  the  great 
Admiral,  Sturgeon  the  electrician,  Samuel  Drew  the  essay- 
ist, Gifford  the  editor  of  the  "  Quarterly  Review,"  Bloom- 
field  the  poet,  and  William  Carey  the  missionary ;  whilst 
Morrison,  another  laborious  missionary,  was  a  maker  of 
shoe-lasts.  Within  the  last  year,  a  profound  naturalist  has 
been  discovered  in  the  person  of  a  shoemaker  at  Banff, 
named  Thomas  Edwards,  who,  while  maintaining  himself 
by  his  trade,  has  devoted  his  leisure  to  the  study  of  natural 
science  in  all  its  branches,  his  researches  in  connection  with 
the  smaller  crustacese  having  been  rewarded  by  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  species,  to  which  the  name  of  "  Praniza 
Edwardsii "  has  been  given  by  naturalists. 

Nor  have  tailors  been  altogether  undistinguished,  Jack- 
son the  painter  having  worked  at  that  trade  until  he 
reached  manhood.  But,  what  is  perhaps  more  remark- 
able, one  of  the  gallantest  of  British  seamen,  Admiral 
Hobson,  who  broke  the  boom  at  Vigo,  in  1702,  originally 
belonged  to  this  calling.  He  was  working  as  a  tailor's 
apprentice  near  Bonchurch,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  when 
the  news  flew  through  the  village,  that  a  squadron  of 
men-of-war  were  sailing  off  the  island.  He  sprang  from 
the  shopboard,  and  ran  down  with  his  comrades  to  the 
beach,  to  gaze  upon  the  glorious  sight.  The  tailor-boy 
was  suddenly  inflamed  with  the  ambition  to  be  a  sailor ; 
and  springing  into  a  boat,  he  rowed  off  to  the  squadron, 
gained  the  admiral's  ship,  and  was  accepted  as  a  volun- 

2 


2t>  EGBERT   DICK,  THE   GEOLOGIST.          CHAP.  I. 

teer.  Years  after,  he  returned  to  his  native  village  full 
of  honors,  and  dined  off  bacon  and  eggs  in  the  cottage 
where  he  had  worked  as  a  tailor's  apprentice. 

Cardinal  Wolsey,  Defoe,  Akenside,  and  Kirke  White, 
were  the  sons  of  butchers  ;  Bunyan  was  a  tinker,  and 
Joseph  Lancaster  a  basket-maker.  Among  the  great 
names  identified  with  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine 
are  those  of  Newcomen,  Watt,  and  Stephenson  ;  the  first 
a  blacksmith,  the  second  a  maker  of  mathematical  instru- 
ments, and  the  third  an  engine-fireman.  Huntingdon  the 
preacher  was  originally  a  coal-heaver,  and  Bewick,  the 
father  of  wood-engraving,  a  coal-miner.  Dodsley  was  a 
footman,  and  Holcroft  a  groom.  Baffin  the  navigator  be- 
gan his  seafaring  career  as  a  man  before  the  mast,  and  Sir 
Cloudesley  Shovel  as  a  cabin-boy.  Herschel  played  the 
oboe  in  a  military  band.  Chantrey  was  a  journeyman  car- 
ver, Etty  a  journeyman  printer,  and  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence 
the  son  of  a  tavern-keeper.  Michael  Faraday,  the  son  of 
a  poor  blacksmith,  was  in  early  life  apprenticed  to  a  book- 
binder, and  worked  at  that  trade  until  he  reached  his 
twenty-second  year ;  he  now  occupies  the  very  first  rank 
as  a  philosopher,  excelling  even  his  master,  Sir  Humphry 
Davy,  in  the  art  of  lucidly  expounding  the  most  difficult 
and  abstruse  points  in  natural  science. 

Not  long  ago,  Sir  Roderick  Murchison  discovered  at 
Thurso,  in  the  far  north  of  Scotland,  a  profound  geologist, 
in  the  person  of  a  baker  there,  named  Robert  Dick. 
When  Sir  Roderick  called  upon  him  at  the  bakehouse  in 
which  he  baked  and  earned  his  bread,  Robert  Dick  de- 
lineated to  him,  by  means  of  flour  upon  a  board,  the 
geographical  features  and  geological  phenomena  of  his 
native  county,  pointing  out  the  imperfections  in  the  exist- 
ing maps,  which  he  had  ascertained  by  travelling  over 


CHAP.  I.  THE   TRUE   WORKER.  27 

the  country  in  his  leisure  hours.  On  further  inquiry. 
Sir  Roderick  ascertained  that  the  humble  individual  be- 
fore him  was  not  only  a  capital  baker  and  geologist,  but 
a  first-rate  botanist.  "  I  found,"  said  the  Director-Gen- 
eral of  the  Geographical  Society,  "  to  my  great  humilia- 
tion, that  this  baker  knew  infinitely  more  of  botanical 
science,  ay,  ten  times  more,  than  I  did ;  and  that  there 
were  only  some  twenty  or  thirty  specimens  of  flowers 
which  he  had  not  collected.  Some  he  had  obtained  as 
presents,  some  he  had  purchased,  but  the  greater  portion 
had  been  accumulated  by  his  industry,  in  his  native 
county  of  Caithness  ;  and  the  specimens  were  all  ar- 
ranged in  the  most  beautiful  order,  with  their  scientific 
names  affixed." 

It  is  the  glory  of  our  country  that  men  such  as  these 
should  so  abound ;  not  all  equally  distinguished,  it  is  true, 
but  penetrated  alike  by  the  noble  spirit  of  self-help. 
They  furnish  proofs  of  cheerful,  honest  working,  and 
energetic  effort  to  make  the  most  of  small  means  and 
common  opportunities.  For  opportunities,  as  we  shall 
afterwards  find,  fall  in  the  way  of  every  man  who  is  re- 
solved to  take  advantage  of  them.  The  facts  of  natur* 
are  open  to  the  peasant  and  mechanic,  as  well  as  to  the 
philosopher,  and  by  nature  they  are  alike  capable  of 
making  a  moral  use  of  those  facts  to  the  best  of  their 
power.  Thus,  even  in  the  lowliest  calling,  the  true 
worker  may  win  the  very  loftiest  results. 

The  instances  of  men  in  this  country  who,  by  dint  of 
persevering  application  and  energy,  have  raised  them- 
selves from  the  humblest  ranks  of  industry  to  eminent 
positions  of  usefulness  and  influence  in  society,  are  in- 
deed so  numerous  that  they  have  long  ceased  to  be  re- 
garded as  exceptional.  Looking  at  some  of  the  more 


28  JOSEPH  BROTHERTON.  CHAP,  1. 

remarkable;  instances,  it  might  almost  be  said  that  early 
encounter  with  difficulty  and  adverse  circumstances  was 
the  necessary  and  indispensable  condition  of  success. 
The  House  of  Commons  has  always  contained  a  con- 
siderable number  of  such  self-raised  men,  —  fitting  rep- 
resentatives of  the  industrial  character  of  the  British 
people;  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  our  legislature  that 
such  men  have  received  due  honor  there.  When  the 
lute  Joseph  Broth erton,  member  for  Salford,  in  the 
course  of  the  discussion  on  the  Ten  Hours'  Bill,  detailed 
with  true  pathos  the  hardships  and  fatigues  to  which  he 
had  been  subjected  when  working  as  a  factory  boy  in  a 
cotton-mill,  and  described  the  resolution  which  he  had 
then  formed,  that  if  ever  it  was  in  his  power  he  would 
endeavor  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  that  class,  Sir 
James  Graham  rose  immediately  after  him,  and  declared, 
amidst  the  cheers  of  the  House,  that  he  did  not  before 
know  that  Mr.  Brotherton's  origin  had  been  so  humble, 
but  that  it  rendered  him  more  proud  than  he  had  ever 
before  been  of  the  House  of  Commons,  to  think  that  a 
person  risen  from  that  condition  should  be  able  to  sit  side 
by  side,  on  equal  terms,  with  the  hereditary  gentry  of  the 
land. 

There  is  a  member  of  the  present  House  of  Commons, 
whom  we  have  heard  introducing  his  recollections  of  past 
times  with  the  words,  "  When  I  was  working  as  a  weaver 
boy  at  Norwich ; "  and  there  are  many  more  who  have 
sprung  from  conditions  equally  humble.  But  perhaps 
the  most  interesting  story  of  difficulties  encountered  and 
,  overcome  by  manful  struggle,  is  that  of  the  present  mem- 
ber for  Sunderland,  Mr.  W.  S.  Lindsay,  the  well-known 
shipowner.  It  was  told  by  himself,  in  his  own  simple 
words,  to  the  electors  of  Weymouth  some  years  ago,  in 


CHAP.  I.  MR.  W.   S.  LINDSAY.  29 

answer  to  an  attack  which  had  been  made  upon  him  by 
his  political  opponents.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  said, 
he  had  been  left,  an  orphan  boy,  to  push  his  way  in  the 
world.  He  left  Glasgow  for  Liverpool  with  only  four 
shillings  and  sixpence  in  his  pocket;  and  so  poor  was 
he  that  the  captain  of  a  steamer  had  pity  on  him,  and 
had  told  him  that  he  would  give  him  his  passage  if  he 
would  trim  the  coals  in  the  coal-hole.  He  did  so,  and 
thus  worked  his  passage.  He  remembered  that  the  fire- 
man gave  him  a  part  of  his  homely  dinner,  and  never 
did  he  eat  a  dinner  with  such  relish,  for  he  felt  that  he 
had  worked  for  it  and  earned  it;  and  he  wished  the 
young  to  listen  to  his  statement,  for  he  himself  had  de- 
rived a  lesson  from  that  voyage  which  he  had  never  for- 
gotten. At  Liverpool,  he  remained  for  seven  weeks 
before  he  could  get  employment ;  he  abode  in  sheds,  and 
his  four  and  sixpence  maintained  him,  until  at  last  he 
found  shelter  in  a  West  Indiaman.  He  entered  as  a  boy, 
and  before  he  was  nineteen  he  had  risen  to  the  command 
of  an  Indiaman.  At  twenty-three  he  retired  from  the 
sea ;  his  friends,  who  when  he  wanted  assistance  had 
given  him  none,  having  left  him  that  which  they  could  no 
longer  keep.  He  settled  on  shore  ;  his  career  had  been 
rapid ;  he  had  acquired  prosperity  by  close  industry,  by 
constant  work,  and  by  keeping  ever  in  view  the  great 
principle  of  doing  to  others  as  you  would  be  done  by. 

But  the  same  characteristic  feature  of  energetic  indus- 
try happily  has  its  counterpart  amongst  the  other  ranks 
of  the  community.  The  middle  and  well-to-do  classes 
are  constantly  throwing  out  vigorous  offshoots  in  all  direc- 
tions,— in  science,  commerce,  and  art, — thus  adding  effec- 
tively to  the  working  power  of  the  country.  Probably  the 
very  greatest  name  in  English  philosophy  is  that  of  Sir 


80  EMINENT  MIDDLE-CLASS  MEN.  CHAP.  L 

Isaac  Newton,  who  was  the  son  of  a  yeoman,  the  owner 
and  farmer  of  a  little  property  at  Woolsthorpe,  in  Lincoln- 
shire, worth  only  about  thirty  pounds  a  year.  The  dis- 
tinguished astronomer  Adams,  the  discoverer  of  Neptune, 
was  born  in  the  same  condition  of  life ;  his  father  being  a 
small  farmer  on  one  of  the  bleakest  spots  on  Dartmoor,  a 
region  in  which,  however  sterile  the  soil  may  be,  it  is  clear 
that  nature  is  capable  of  growing  the  manliest  of  men. 

The  sons  of  clergymen,  and  ministers  of  religion  gen- 
erally, have  particularly  distinguished  themselves  in  our 
country's  history.  Amongst  them  we  find  the  names  of 
Drake  and  Nelson,  celebrated  in  naval  heroism ;  of  Wol- 
laston,  Young,  Playfair,  and  Bell,  in  science  ;  of  Wren, 
Reynolds,  Wilson,  and  Wilkie,  in  art ;  of  Thurlow  and 
Campbell,  in  law  ;  and  of  Addison,  Thomson,  Goldsmith, 
Coleridge,  and  Tennyson,  in  literature.  Lord  Hardinge, 
Colonel  Edwardes,  and  Major  Hodson,  so  honorably 
known  in  Indian  warfare,  were  also  the  sons  of  clergy- 
men. Indeed,  the  empire  of  England  in  India  was  won 
and  held  chiefly  by  men  of  the  middle  class,  —  such  as 
Clive,  Warren  Hastings,  and  their  successors,  —  men,  for 
the  most  part,  bred  in  factories,  and  trained  to  habits  of 
practical  business. 

Among  the  sons  of  attorneys  we  find  Edmund  Burke, 
Smeaton  the  engineer,  Scott  and  Wordsworth,  and  Lords 
Somers,  Hardwick,  and  Dunning.  Sir  William  Black- 
stone  was  the  posthumous  son  of  a  silk-mercer.  Lord 
Gifford's  father  was  a  grocer  at  Dover ;  Lord  Denman's 
a  physician ;  Judge  Talfourd's  a  country  brewer ;  and 
Lord  Chief  Baron  Pollock's  was  a  rather  celebrated  sad- 
dler at  Charing  Cross.  Layard,  the  discoverer  of  the  mon- 
uments of  Nineveh,  was  an  articled  clerk  in  a  London 
solicitor's  office ;  and  Sir  William  Armstrong,  the  inventor 


CHAP.  I.  PRICE  PAID  FOR  DISTINCTION.  3i 

of  hydraulic  machinery  and  of  the  Armstrong  ordnance, 
was  also  trained  to  the  law,  and  even  practised  for  some 
time  as  an  attorney.  Milton  was  the  son  of  n  London 
scrivener,  and  Pope  and  Southey  were  the  sons  of  linen- 
drapers.  Professor  Wilson  was  the  son  of  a  Paisley  man- 
ufacturer, and  Lord  Macaulay  of  an  African  merchant. 
Keats  was  a  druggist,  and  Sir  Humphry  Davy  a  country 
apothecary's  apprentice.  Speaking  of  himself,  Davy 
once  said,  "  What  I  am  I  have  made  myself ;  I  say  this 
without  vanity,  and  in  pure  simplicity  of  heart."  Rich- 
ard Owen,  the  Newton  of  natural  history,  began  life  as  a 
midshipman,  and  did  not  enter  upon  the  line  of  scientific 
research  in  which  he  has  since  become  so  distinguished, 
until  comparatively  late  in  life.  He  laid  the  foundations 
of  his  knowledge  while  engaged  in  cataloguing  the  mag- 
nificent museum  of  specimens  accumulated  by  the  indus- 
try of  John  Hunter,  a  work  which  occupied  him  at  the 
College  of  Surgeons  during  a  period  of  not  less  than  ten 
years. 

In  all  these  cases  strenuous  individual  application  was 
the  price  paid  for  distinction ;  excellence  of  any  sort  be- 
ing invariably  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  indolence.  It 
is  the  diligent  hand  and  head  alone  that  maketh  rich  — 
in  self-culture,  growth  in  wisdom,  and  in  business.  Even 
when  men  are  born  to  wealth  and  high  social  position,  any 
solid  reputation  which  they  may  individually  achieve  is 
only  attained  by  energetic  application  ;  for  though  an 
inheritance  of  acres  may  be  bequeathed,  an  inheritance 
of  knowledge  and  wisdom  cannot.  The  wealthy  man 
may  pay  others  for  doing  his  work  for  him,  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  get  his  thinking  done  for  him  by  another,  or 
to  purchase  any  kind  of  self-culture.  Indeed,  the  doc- 
trine that  excellence  in  any  pursuit  is  to  be  achieved  by 


32  ANECDOTE   OF  BISHOP   GROSTESTE.      CHAP.  L 

laborious  application  only,  holds  as  true  in  the  case  of  the 
man  of  wealth  as  in  that  of  Drew  and  Gifford,  whose 
only  school  was  a  cobbler's  stall,  or  Hugh  Miller,  whose 
only  college  was  a  Cromarty  stonequarry. 

The  knowledge  and  experience  which  produce  wis- 
dom, can  only  become  a  man's  individual  possession  and 
property  by  his  own  free  action ;  and  it  is  as  futile 
to  expect  these  without  laborious,  painstaking  effort,  as 
it  is  to  hope  to  gather  a  harvest  where  the  seed  has  not 
been  sown.  It  is  related  of  Grosteste,  an  old  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  possessing  great  power  in  his  day,  that  he  was 
once  asked  by  his  stupid  and  idle  brother  to  make  a  great 
man  of  him.  "  Brother,"  replied  the  bishop,  "  if  your 
plough  is  broken,  I'll  pay  for  the  mending  of  it ;  or,  if 
your  ox  should  die,  I'll  buy  you  another ;  but  I  cannot 
make  a  great  man  of  you  ;  a  ploughman  I  found  you,  and 
I  fear  a  ploughman  I  must  leave  you." 

Riches  and  ease,  it  is  perfectly  clear,  are  not  necessary 
for  man's  highest  culture,  else  had  not  the  world  been  so 
largely  indebted  in  all  times  to  those  who  have  sprung 
from  the  humbler  ranks.  An  easy  and  luxurious  exist- 
ence does  not  train  men  to  effort  or  encounter  with  diffi- 
culty ;  nor  does  it  awaken  that  consciousness  of  power 
which  is  so  necessary  for  energetic  and  effective  action  in 
life.  Indeed,  so  far  from  poverty  being  a  misfortune,  it 
may,  by  vigorous  self-help,  be  converted  even  into  a  bless- 
ing; rousing  a  man  to  that  struggle  with  the  world  in 
which,  though  some  may  purchase  ease  by  degradation, 
the  right-minded  and  true-hearted  will  find  strength,  con- 
fidence, and  triumph.  Bacon  says,  "  Men  seem  neither 
to  understand  their  riches  nor  their  strength  ;  of  the  for- 
mer they  believe  greater  things  than  they  should  ;  of  the 
latter  much  less.  Self-reliance  and  self-denial  will  teach 


CHAP.  I.  SELF-DENIAL.  33 

a  man  to  drink  out  of  his  own  cistern,  and  eat  his  own 
sweet  bread,  and  to  learn  and  labor  truly  to  get  his  liv- 
ing, and  carefully  to  expend  the  good  things  committed 
to  his  trust." 

Riches  are  so  great  a  temptation  to  ease  arid  self-indul- 
gence, to  which  men  are  by  nature  prone,  that  the  glory 
is  all  the  greater  of  those  who,  born  to  ample  fortune, 
nevertheless  take  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  their 
generation,  —  who  "  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious 
days."  It  is  to  the  honor  of  the  wealthier  ranks  in 
this  country  that  they  are  not  idlers  ;  for  they  do  their 
fair  share  of  the  work  of  the  state,  and  usually  take 
more  than  their  fair  share  of  its  dangers.  It  was  a 
fine  thing  said  of  a  subaltern  officer  in  the  Peninsular 
campaigns,  observed  trudging  along  through  mud  and 
mire  by  the  side  of  his  regiment,  "  There  goes  15,000/.  a 
year  ! "  and  in  our  own  day,  the  bleak  slopes  of  Sebasto- 
pol  and  the  burning  soil  of  India  have  borne  witness  to 
the  like  noble  self-denial  and  devotion  on  the  part  of  our 
gentler  classes  ;  many  a  gallant  and  noble  fellow,  of  rank 
and  estate,  having  risked  his  life,  or  lost  it,  in  one  or 
other  of  those  fields  of  action,  in  the  public  service  of  his 
country. 

Nor  have  the  wealthier  classes  been  undistinguished  in 
the  more  peaceful  pursuits  of  philosophy  and  science. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  great  names  of  Bacon,  the  father 
of  modern  philosophy,  and  of  Worcester,  Boyle,  Caven- 
dish, Talbot,  and  Rosse,  in  science.  The  last  named  may 
be  regarded  as  the  great  mechanic  of  the  peerage,  a  man 
who,  if  he  had  not  been  born  a  peer,  would  probably  have 
taken  the  highest  rank  as  an  inventor.  So  thorough  is 
ois  knowledge  of  smith-work  that  he  is  said  to  have  been 
pressed  on  one  occasion  to  accept  the  foremanship  of  a 

2* 


34  SIR  ROBERT  PEEL.  OHAP.  I. 

large  workshop,  by  a  manufacturer  to  whom  his  rank  waa 
unknown.  The  great  Rosse  telescope,  of  his  own  fabri- 
cation, is  certainly  the  most  extraordinary  instrument  of 
the  kind  that  has  yet  been  constructed. 

But  it  is  principally  in  the  departments  of  politics  and 
literature  that  we  find  the  most  energetic  laborers  amongst 
our  higher  classes.  Success  in  these  lines  of  action,  as  in 
all  others,  can  only  be  achieved  through  industry,  practice, 
and  study;  and  the  great  minister  or  parliamentary  leader, 
must  necessarily  be  amongst  the  very  hardest  of  workers. 
Such  are  Palmerston  and  Derby,  Russell  and  Disraeli, 
Gladstone  and  Bulwer.  These  men  have  had  the  benefit 
of  no  Ten  Hours'  Bill,  but  have  often,  during  the  busy 
season  of  Parliament,  worked  "  double  shift,"  almost  day 
and  night.  One  of  the  most  illustrious  of  such  workers  in 
modern  times  was  unquestionably  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel. 
He  possessed  in  an  extraordinary  degree  the  power  of  con- 
tinuous intellectual  labor,  nor  did  he  spare  himself.  His 
career,  indeed,  presented  a  remarkable  example  of  how 
much  a  man  of  comparatively  moderate  powers  can  ac- 
complish by  means  of  assiduous  application  and  indefati- 
gable industry.  During  the  forty  years  that  he  held  a  seat 
in  Parliament,  his  labors  were  prodigious.  He  was  a  most 
conscientious  man,  and  whatever  he  undertook  to  do,  he 
did  thoroughly.  All  his  speeches  bear  evidence  of  his 
careful  study  of  everything  that  had  been  spoken  or  writ- 
ten on  the  subject  under  consideration.  He  was  elaborate 
almost  to  excess  ;  and  spared  no  pains  to  adapt  himself  to 
the  various  capacities  of  his  audience.  Withal,  he  pos- 
sessed much  practical  sagacity,  great  strength  of  purpose, 
and  power  to  direct  the  issues  of  action  with  steady  hand 
and  eye.  In  one  respect  he  surpassed  most  men :  his 
principles  broadened  and  enlarged  with  time ;  and  age, 


CHAP.  I.  INDUSTRY  OF  LORD  BROUGHAM.  3>5 

instead  of  contracting,  only  served  to  mellow  and  ripen  his 
nature.  To  the  last  he  continued  open  to  the  reception  of 
new  views,  and,  though  many  thought  him  cautious  to 
excess,  he  did  not  allow  himself  to  fall  into  that  indis- 
criminating  admiration  of  the  past,  which  is  the  palsy  of 
many  minds  similarly  educated,  and  renders  the  old  age 
of  many  nothing  but  a  pity. 

The  indefatigable  industry  of  Lord  Brougham  has  be- 
come almost  proverbial.  His  public  labors  have  extended 
over  a  period  of  upwards  of  sixty  years,  during  which  he 
has  ranged  over  many  fields,  —  of  law,  literature,  politics, 
and  science,  —  and  achieved  distinction  in  them  all.  How 
he  contrived  it,  has  been  to  many  a  mystery.  Once,  when 
Sir  Samuel  Romilly  was  requested  to  undertake  some 
new  work,  he  excused  himself  by  saying  that  he  had  no 
time,  "  but,"  he  added,  "  go  with  it  to  that  fellow  Broug- 
ham, he  seems  to  have  time  for  everything."  The  secret 
of  it  was,  that  he  never  left  a  minute  unemployed ;  withal 
he  possessed  a  constitution  of  iron.  When  arrived  at  an 
age  at  which  most  men  would  have  retired  from  the  world 
to  enjoy  their  hard-earned  leisure,  perhaps  to  doze  away 
their  time  in  an  easy  chair,  Lord  Brougham  commenced 
and  prosecuted  a  series  of  elaborate  investigations  as  to 
the  laws  of  light,  and  he  submitted  the  results  to  the 
most  scientific  audiences  that  Paris  and  London  could 
muster.  About  the  same  time,  he  was  passing  through 
the  press  his  admirable  sketches  of  the  "  Men  of  Science 
and  Literature  of  the  Reign  of  George  III.,"  and  taking 
his  full  share  of  the  law  business  and  political  discussions 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  Sydney  Smith  once  recom- 
mended him  to  confine  himself  to  only  the  transaction  of 
BO  much  business  as  three  strong  men  could  get  through. 
But  such  was  Brougham's  love  of  work,  —  long  become 


56  SIR  E.  BULWER  LYTTON.  CHAP.  I. 

a  habit,  —  that  no  amount  of  application  seems  to  have 
been  too  great  for  him  ;  and  such  was  his  love  of  excel- 
lence, that  it  has  been  said  of  him,  that  if  his  station  in 
life  had  been  only  that  of  a  shoeblack,  he  would  never 
have  rested  satisfied  until  he  had  become  the  best  shoe- 
black in  England. 

Another  hard-working  man  of  the  same  class  is  Sir 
E.  Bulwer  Lytton.  Few  writers  have  done  more,  or 
achieved  higher  distinction  in  various  walks,  —  as  a  nov- 
elist, poet,  dramatist,  historian,  essayist,  orator,  and  pol- 
itician. He  has  worked  his  way  step  by  step,  disdainful 
of  ease,  and  animated  throughout  only  by  the  ardent 
desire  to  excel.  On  the  score  of  mere  industry,  there 
are  few  living  English  writers  who  have  written  so  much, 
and  none  that  have  produced  so  much  of  high  quality. 
The  industry  of  Bulwer  is  entitled  to  all  the  greater 
praise  that  it  has  been  entirely  self-imposed.  To  hunt, 
and  shoot,  and  live  at  ease,  —  to  frequent  operas,  and 
clubs,  and  Almack's,  enjoying  the  variety  of  London 
sight-seeing,  morning  calls,  and  parliamentary  small-talk 
during  the  "  season,"  and  then  off  to  the  country  man- 
sion, with  its  well-stocked  preserves,  and  its  thousand  de- 
lightful out-door  pleasures,  —  to  travel  abroad,  to  Paris, 
Vienna,  or  Rome,  —  all  this  is  excessively  attractive  to  a 
lover  of  pleasure  and  a  man  of  fortune,  and  by  no  means 
calculated  to  make  him  buckle  to  steady,  continuous 
labor  of  any  kind.  Yet  these  pleasures,  all  within  his 
reach,  Bulwer  must,  as  compared  with  men  born  to  simi- 
lar estate,  have  denied  himself  in  assuming  the  position 
and  pursuing  the  career  of  a  literary  man.  Like  Byron, 
his  first  effort  was  poetical  ("Weeds  and  Wild  Flowers  "), 
and  a  failure.  His  second  was  a  novel  ("  Falkland  "),  and 
it  proved  a  failure  too.  A  man  of  weaker  stuff  would 


CHAP.  I.  MR.  DISRAELI.  37 

have  dropped  authorship ;  but  Bulwer  had  pluck  and  per 
severance  ;  and  he  worked  on,  determined  to  succeed.  He 
was  incessantly  industrious,  read  prodigiously,  and  from 
failure  went  courageously  onwards  to  success.  "  Pelham  " 
followed  "Falkland"  within  a  year,  and  the  remainder 
of  Bulwer's  literary  life,  now  extending  over  a  period  of 
thirty  years,  has  been  a  succession  of  triumphs. 

Mr.  Disraeli  affords  a  similar  instance  of  the  power  of 
industry  and  application  in  working  out  an  eminent  public 
career.  His  first  achievements  were,  like  Bulwer's,  in  lit- 
erature ;  and  he  reached  success  only  through  a  succession 
of  failures.  His  "  Wondrous  Tale  of  Alroy  "  and  "  Rev- 
olutionary Epic"  were  laughed  at,  and  regarded  as  indi- 
cations of  literary  lunacy.  But  he  worked  on  in  other 
directions,  and  his  "  Coningsby,"  "  Sybil,"  and  "  Tancred," 
proved  the  sterling  stuff  of  which  he  was  made.  As  an 
orator,  too,  his  first  appearance  in  the  House  of  Commons 
was  a  failure.  It  was  spoken  of  as  "  more  screaming 
than  an  Adelphi  farce."  Though  composed  in  a  grand 
and  ambitious  strain,  every  sentence  was  hailed  with 
"  loud  laughter."  "  Hamlet "  played  as  a  comedy  were 
nothing  to  it.  But  he  concluded  with  a  sentence  which 
embodied  a  prophecy.  Writhing  under  the  laughter  with 
which  his  studied  eloquence  had  been  received,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  I  have  begun  several  times  many  things,  and 
have  succeeded  in  them  at  last.  I  shall  sit  down  now, 
but  the  time  will  come  when  you  will  hear  me."  The 
time  did  come  ;  and  how  Disraeli  succeeded  in  at  length 
commanding  the  rapt  attention  of  the  first  assembly  of 
gentlemen  in  the  world,  affords  a  striking  illustration  of 
what  energy  and  determination  will  do ;  for  Disraeli 
earned  his  position  by  dint  of  patient  industry.  He  did 
not,  as  many  young  men  do,  having  once  failed,  retire 


38  THE    ENGLISH  I*   INDIA.  CHAP.  I. 

dejected,  to  mope  and  whine  in  a  corner,  but  pluckily  set 
himself  to  work.  He  carefully  unlearned  his  faults,  stud- 
ied the  character  of  his  audience,  practised  sedulously  the 
art  of  speech,  and  industriously  filled  his  mind  with  the 
elements  of  parliamentary  knowledge.  He  worked  pa- 
tiently for  success  ;  and  it  came,  but  slowly ;  then  the 
House  laughed  with  him,  instead  of  at  him.  The  recol- 
lection of  his  early  failure  was  effaced,  and  by  general 
consent  he  was  at  length  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  most 
finished  and  effective  of  parliamentary  speakers. 

Illustrious  as  are  the  instances  of  strong  individual- 
ity which  we  have  thus  rapidly  cited,  the  number  might 
be  largely  increased  even  from  the  list  of  living  men. 
One  of  our  most  distinguished  writers  has,  it  is  true,  la- 
mented the  decay  of  that  strength  of  individual  character 
which  has  been  the  glory  of  the  English  nation ;  yet,  if 
we  mistake  not,  no  age  in  our  history  so  little  justifies 
such  a  lament  as  the  present.  Never  did  sudden  calam- 
ity more  severely  test  the  individual  pluck,  endurance, 
and  energy  of  a  people,  than  did  the  recent  outbreak  of 
the  rebellion  in  India ;  but  it  only  served  to  bring  out 
the  unflinching  self-reliance  and  dormant  heroism  of  the 
English  race.  In  that  terrible  trial  all  proved  almost 
equally  great,  —  women,  civilians,  and  soldiers, — from 
the  general  down  through  all  grades  to  the  private  and 
bugleman.  The  men  were  not  picked,  —  they  belonged 
to  the  same  every-day  people  whom  we  daily  meet  at 
home,  —  in  the  streets,  in  workshops,  in  the  fields,  at 
clubs ;  yet  when  sudden  disaster  fell  upon  them,  each 
and  all  displayed  a  wealth  of  personal  resources  and  en- 
ergy, and  became  as  it  were  individually  heroic.  Indeed 
in  no  age  of  England  have  the  finest  qualities  of  men 
been  so  brilliantly  displayed ;  and  there  are  perhaps  no 


CHAP.  I.  HEKOES  OF  PEACE.  39 

names  in  our  history  which  outshine  those  of  the  modern 
heroes  of  India.  Montalembert  avows  that  they  "do 
honor  to  the  human  race."  Citing  the  great  names 
of  Havelock,  Nicholson,  Peel,  Wilson,  and  Neill,  —  to 
which  might  be  added  that  of  Outram,  "  the  Bayard  of 
India,"  —  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  it  is  not  only  such  names, 
great  beyond  comparison,  it  is  the  bearing  in  every  re- 
spect of  this  handful  of  Englishmen,  surprised  in  the 
midst  of  peace  and  prosperity  by  the  most  frightful  and 
most  unforeseen  of  catastrophes.  Not  one  of  them  shrank 
or  trembled,  —  all,  military  and  civilians,  young  and  old, 
generals  and  soldiers,  resisted,  fought  and  perished  with 
a  coolness  and  intrepidity  which  never  faltered.  It  is  in 
this  circumstance  that  shines  out  the  immense  value  of 
public  education,  which  invites  the  Englishman  from  his 
youth  to  make  use  of  his  strength  and  his  liberty,  to  as- 
sociate, resist,  fear  nothing,  be  astonished  at  nothing,  and 
to  save  himself,  by  his  own  sole  exertions,  from  every 
sore  strait  in  life." 

Equally  brilliant  instances  of  individual  force  of  char- 
acter are  also  to  be  found  in  more  peaceful  and  scientific 
walks.  Is  there  not  Livingstone,  with  a  heroism  greater 
than  that  of  Xavier,  penetrating  the  wilds  of  South  Af- 
rica on  his  mission  of  Christian  civilization ;  Layard 
laboring  for  years  to  disinter  the  remains  of  the  buried 
city  of  Babylon ;  Rawlinson,  the  decipherer  of  their 
cuneiform  inscriptions ;  Brooke,  establishing  a  nucleus 
of  European  enterprise  and  colonization  amongst  the 
piratical  tribes  of  the  Indian  Ocean  ;  Franklin,  Maclure, 
Collinson,  M'Clintock,  and  others,  cleaving  their  way 
through  storms,  and  ice,  and  darkness,  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem of  the  northwest  passage ;  —  enterprises  which,  for 
individual  daring,  self-denial,  energy,  and  heroism,  are 
unsurpassed  by  those  of  any  age  or  country. 


40  ENGLISH  INDUSTRY.  CHAP.  IL 


CHAPTER  II. 

J,KADERS    OP   INDUSTRY, INVENTORS  AND  PRODUCERS. 

"  Rich  are  the  diligent,  who  can  command 

Time,  nature's  stock  !  and  could  his  hour-glass  fall, 
Would,  as  for  seed  of  stars,  stoop  for  the  sand, 
And,  by  incessant  labor,  gather  all." — D^Avenant. 

ONE  of  the  most  strongly  marked  features  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  is  their  indomitable  spirit  of  industry,  stand- 
ing out  prominent  and  distinct  in  all  their  past  history, 
and  as  strikingly  characteristic  of  them  now  as  at  any 
former  period.  It  is  this  spirit,  displayed  by  the  com- 
mons of  England,  which  has  laid  the  foundations  and 
built  up  the  industrial  greatness  of  the  empire,  at  home 
and  in  the  colonies.  This  vigorous  growth  of  the  nation 
has  been  mainly  the  result  of  the  free  industrial  energy 
of  individuals  ;  and  it  has  been  contingent  upon  the 
number  of  hands  and  minds  from  time  to  time  actively 
employed  within  it,  whether  as  cultivators  of  the  soil, 
producers  of  articles  of  utility,  contrivers  of  tools  arid 
machines,  writers  of  books,  or  creators  of  works  of  art. 
And  while  this  spirit  of  active  industry  has  been  the  vital 
principle  of  the  nation,  it  has  also  been  its  saving  and 
remedial  one,  counteracting  from  time  to  time  the  effects 
of  errors  in  our  laws  and  imperfections  in  our  constitu- 
tion. 

The  career  of  industry  which  the  nation  has  pursued, 
has  also  proved  its  best  education.  As  steady  application 


CHAP  TI.        LABOR  THE  BEST  OF  TEACHERS.  41 

to  work  is  the  healthiest  training  for  every  individual,  so^ 
is  it  the  best  discipline  of  a  state.  Honorable  industry 
always  travels  the  same  road  with  enjoyment  and  duty ; 
and  progress  is  altogether  impossible  without  it.  The 
idle  pass  through  life  leaving  as  little  trace  of  their  exist- 
ence as  foam  upon  the  water,  or  smoke  upon  the  air ; 
whereas  the  industrious  stamp  their  character  upon  their 
age,  and  influence  not  only  their  own  but  all  succeeding 
generations.  Labor  is  the  best  test  of  the  energies  of_ 
men,  and  furnishes  an  admirable  training  for  practical 
wisdom.  Nor  is  a  life  of  manual  employment  incom- 
patible with  high  mental  culture.  Hugh  Miller,  than 
whom  none  knew  better  the  strength  and  the  weakness 
belonging  to  the  lot  of  labor,  stated  the  result  of  his  ex- 
perience to  be,  that  work,  even  the  hardest,  is  full  of 
pleasure  and  materials  for  self-improvement.  He  held 
honest  labor  to  be  the  best  of  teachers,  and  that  the 
school  of  toil  is  the  noblest  of  schools,  —  save  only  the 
Christian  one,  —  that  it  is  a  school  in  which  the  ability 
of  being  useful  is  imparted,  the  spirit  of  independence 
learnt,  and  the  habit  of  persevering  effort  acquired.  He 
was  even  of  opinion  that  the  training  of  the  mechanic, 
by  the  exercise  which  it  gives  to  his  observant  faculties, 
from  his  daily  dealing  with  things  actual  and  practical, 
and  the  close  experience  of  life  which  he  acquires,  bet- 
ter fits  him  for  picking  his  way  through  the  journey  of 
life,  and  is  more  favorable  to  his  growth  as  a  Man,  em- 
phatically speaking,  than  the  training  afforded  by  any 
other  condition. 

The  array  of  great  names  which  we  have  already  cur- 
sorily cited,  of  men  springing  from  the  ranks  of  the  indus- 
trial classes,  who  have  achieved  distinction  in  various 
walks  of  life,  —  in  science,  commerce,  literature,  and  art. 


42  INVENTION  OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE.    CHAP.  II. 

—  shows  that  at  all  events  the  difficulties  interposed  by 
poverty   and    labor    are  not   insurmountable.      As   re- 
spects the  great  contrivances  and  inventions  which  have 
conferred  so  much  power  and  wealth  upon  the  nation,  it 
is  unquestionable  that  for  the  greater  part  of  them  we 
have  been  mainly  indebted  to  men  of  the  very  humblest 
rank.      Deduct  what  they  have  done  in  this  particular 
line  of  action,  and  it  will  be  found  that  very  little  indeed 
remains  for  other  men  to  have  accomplished.    The  names 
of  many  meritorious  inventors  have  been  forgotten  ;  only 
the  more  distinguished  —  men  who  have  marked  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  invention  —  have  been  remembered ; 
such,  for  instance,  as  those  connected  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  gigantic  powers  of  the  steam-engine.     Yet 
there  are  hundreds  of  ingenious  but  nameless  workmen, 
who  have  from  time  to  time  added  substantial  improve- 
ments to  that  wonderful  machine,  and  contributed  greatly 
to  the  increase  of  its  powers  and  the  extension  of  its  prac- 
tical uses.     There  are,  also,  numerous  minor  inventions, 

—  such,  for  instance,  as  the  watch  which  we  carry  in  our 
pocket,  —  each  important  in  its  way,  the  history  of  which 
has  been  altogether  lost ;  and  though  we  have  succeeded 
to  the  ample  inheritance  which  the  inventors  have  be- 
queathed to  us,  we  know  not  the  names  of  many  of  our 
benefactors. 

Though  the  invention  of  the  working  steam-engine  — 
the  king  of  machines  —  belongs,  comparatively  speaking, 
to  our  own  epoch,  the  idea  of  it  was  born  many  centuries 
ago.  Like  other  contrivances  and  discoveries,  it  was  effect- 
ed step  by  step,  —  one  man  transmitting  the  result  of  his 
labors,  at  the  time  apparently  useless,  to  his  successors, 
who  took  it  up  and  carried  it  forward  another  stage,  — 
the  sentinels  of  the  great  idea  answering  each  other  across 


CHAP.  II.  JAMES    WAIT.  43 

the  heads  of  many  generations.  The  idea  promulgated 
by  Hero  of  Alexandria  was  never  altogether  lost;  but, 
like  the  grain  of  wheat  hid  in  the  hand  of  the  Egyptian 
mummy,  it  sprouted  and  grew  vigorously  when  brought 
into  the  full  light  of  modern  science.  The  steam-engine 
was  nothing,  however,  until  it  emerged  from  the  state  of 
theory,  and  was  taken  in  hand  by  practical  mechanics ; 
and  what  a  noble  story  of  patient,  laborious  investigation, 
of  difficulties  encountered  and  overcome  by  heroic  in- 
dustry, does  not  that  marvellous  machine  tell  of !  It  is* 
indeed,  in  itself,  a  monument  of  the  power  of  self-help  i» 
man.  Grouped  around  it  we  find  Savary,  the  Corals)" 
miner ;  Newcomen,  the  Dartmouth  blacksmith ;  Cawltrv 
the  glazier ;  Potter,  the  engine-boy ;  Smeaton,  the  en 
gineer ;  and,  towering  above  all,  the  laborious,  patient 
never-tiring  James  Watt,  the  mathematical  instrument 
maker. 

Watt  was  one  of  the  most  industrious  of  men.  Wha* 
ever  subject  came  under  his  notice  in  the  course  of  h?* 
business,  immediately  became  to  him  an  object  of  study 
and  the  story  of  his  life  proves,  what  all  experience  con 
firms,  that  it  is  not  the  man  of  the  greatest  natural  vigo* 
and  capacity  who  achieves  the  highest  results,  but  he  who 
employs  his  powers  with  the  greatest  industry  and  the 
most  carefully  disciplined  skill,  —  the  skill  that  comes  by 
labor,  application,  and  experience.  Many  men  in  his 
time  knew  far  more  than  Watt,  but  none  labored  so  as- 
siduously as  he  did  to  turn  all  that  he  did  know  to  useful 
practical  purposes.  He  was,  above  all  things,  most  per- 
severing in  his  pursuit  of  facts.  He  cultivated  carefully 
that  habit  of  active  attention  on  which  all  the  higher 
working  qualities  of  the  mind  mainly  depend.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Edgeworth  entertained  the  opinion,  that  many  of  the 


44  CONDENSING   STEAM-ENGINE.  CHAT.  H. 

great  differences  of  intellect  which  are  found  in  men  de- 
pend more  upon  the  early  cultivation  of  this  habit  of 
attention,  than  upon  any  great  disparity  between  the 
powers  of  one  individual  and  another. 

Even  when  a  boy,  Watt  found  science  in  his  toys.  The 
quadrants  lying  about  his  father's  carpenter's  shop  led 
him  to  the  study  of  optics  and  astronomy ;  his  ill  health 
induced  him  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of  physiology ;  and 
his  solitary  walks  through  the  country  attracted  him  to 
the  study  of  botany,  history,  and  antiquarianism.  While 
carrying  on  the  business  of  a  mathematical  instrument- 
maker,  he  received  an  order  to  build  an  organ  ;  and, 
though  without  any  ear  for  music,  he  undertook  the  study 
of  harmonics,  and  successfully  constructed  the  instrument. 
And,  in  like  manner,  when  the  little  model  of  New- 
comen's  steam-engine,  belonging  to  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  was  placed  in  his  hands  for  repair,  he  forthwith 
set  himself  to  learn  all  that  was  then  known  about  heat, 
evaporation,  and  condensation,  —  at  the  same  time  plod- 
ding his  way  in  mechanics  and  the  science  of  construc- 
tion, —  the  results  of  which  he  at  length  embodied  in  the 
condensing  steam-engine. 

For  ten  years  he  went  on  contriving  and  inventing, — 
with  little  hope  to  cheer  him,  —  with  few  friends  to  en- 
courage him,  —  struggling  with  difficulties,  and  earning 
but  a  slender  living  at  his  trade.  Even  when  he  had 
brought  his  engine  into  a  practicable  working  condition, 
his  difficulties  seemed  to  be  as  far  from  an  end  as  ever ; 
and  he  could  find  no  capitalist  to  join  him  in  his  great 
undertaking,  and  bring  the  invention  to  a  successful  prac- 
tical issue.  He  went  on,  meanwhile,  earning  bread  for 
his  family  by  making  and  selling  quadrants,  making  and 
mending  fiddles,  flutes,  and  other  musical  instruments 


CHAP.  II.    IMPROVEMENT   OF  THE   STEAM-ENGINE.        45 

measuring  mason  work,  surveying  roads,  superintending 
the  construction  of  canals,  or  doing  anything  that  turned 
up,  and  offered  a  prospect  of  honest  gain.  At  length, 
Watt  found  a  fit  partner  in  another  eminent  leader  of  in- 
dustry, —  Matthew  Boulton,  of  Birmingham  ;  a  skilful, 
energetic,  and  far-seeing  man,  who  vigorously  undertook 
the  enterprise  of  introducing  the  condensing  engine  into 
general  use  as  a  working  power ;  and  the  success  of  both 
is  now  matter  of  history. 

A  succession  of  eminent  workmen  have,  from  time  to 
time,  added  new  power  to  the  steam-engine ;  and,  by 
numerous  modifications,  rendered  it  capable  of  being  ap- 
plied to  nearly  all  the  purposes  of  manufacture,  —  driv- 
ing machinery,  impelling  ships,  grinding  corn,  printing 
books,  stamping  money,  hammering,  planing,  and  turning 
iron  ;  in  short,  of  performing  any  description  of  mechan- 
ical labor  where  power  is  required.  One  of  the  most 
useful  modifications  in  the  engine  was  that  devised  by 
Trevithick,  another  Cornish  miner,  and  eventually  per- 
fected by  George  Stephenson,  the  colliery  engineman,  in 
the  invention  of  the  railway  locomotive,  by  which  social 
changes  of  immense  importance  have  been  brought  about, 
of  even  greater  consequence,  considered  in  their  results 
on  human  progress  and  civilization,  than  the  condensing 
engine  of  Watt.  These  successive  advances,  however, 
have  not  been  the  result  of  the  genius  of  any  one  in- 
ventor ;  but  of  the  continuous  and  successive  industry 
and  inventiveness  of  many  generations.  What  Mr. 
Robert  Stephenson  recently  said  of  the  locomotive,  at  a 
meeting  of  engineers  at  Newcastle,  is  true  of  nearly 
every  other  capital  invention  :  "  It  is  due,"  he  said,  "  not 
to  one  man,  but  to  the  efforts  of  a  nation  of  rjtechanical 
engineers." 


46   COTTON  MANUFACTURE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN.  CHAP.  II. 

One  of  the  first  grand  results  of  Watt's  invention,  — 
which  placed  an  almost  unlimited  power  at  the  command 
of  the  producing  classes,  —  was  the  establishment  of  the 
cotton  manufacture  of  Great  Britain.  The  person  most 
closely  identified  with  the  foundation  of  this  great  branch 
of  industry  was  unquestionably  Sir  Richard  Arkwright, 
whose  practical  energy  and  sagacity  were  perhaps  even 
more  remarkable  than  his  mechanical  inventiveness.  His 
originality  as  an  inventor  has  indeed  been  called  in 
question,  like  that  of  Watt  and  Stephenson.  Arkwright 
probably  stood  in  the  same  relation  to  the  spinning- 
machine  that  Watt  did  to  the  steam-engine  and  Ste- 
phenson to  the  locomotive.  He  gathered  together  the 
scattered  threads  of  ingenuity  which  already  existed,  and 
wove  tfcem,  after  his  own  design,  into  a  new  and  original 
fabric.  Though  Lewis  Paul,  of  Birmingham,  patented 
the  invention  of  spinning  by  rollers  thirty  years  before 
Arkwright,  the  machines  constructed  by  him  were  so  im- 
perfect in  their  details,  that  they  could  not  be  profitably 
worked ;  and,  therefore,  the  invention  was  practically  a 
failure.  Another  obscure  mechanic,  a  reed-maker  of 
Leigh,  named  Thomas  Highs,  is  also  said  to  have  in- 
vented the  water-frame  and  spinning-jenny  ;  but  they, 
too,  proved  unsuccessful  for  the  same  reason.  When  the 
demands  of  industry  are  found  to  press  upon  the  re- 
sources of  inventors,  you  will  generally  find  the  same  idea 
floating  about  in  many  minds  ;  —  such  has  been  the  case 
with  the  steam-engine,  the  safety-lamp,  the  electric  tele- 
graph, and  many  other  inventions.  Many  ingenious 
minds  labor  in  the  throes  of  invention,  until  at  length 
the  master-mind,  the  strong  practical  man,  steps  forward, 
and  straightway  delivers  them  of  their  idea,  applies  the 
principle  successfully,  and  the  thing  is  done.  Then  there 


CHAP.  II.        RICHARD   ARKWRIGHT,  —  BARBER.  47 

is  a  loud  outcry  amongst  all  the  smaller  contrivers,  who 
see  themselves  distanced  in  the  race ;  and  hence  men, 
such  as  Watt,  Stephenson,  and  Arkwright,  have  so  often 
to  defend  their  reputation  and  their  rights  as  practical  and 
successful  inventors. 

Richard  Arkwright,  like  most  of  our  great  mechani- 
cians, sprang  from  the  ranks.  He  was  born  in  Preston 
in  1732.  His  parents  were  very  poor,  and  he  was  the 
youngest  of  thirteen  children.  He  was  never  at  school ; 
the  only  education  he  received  he  gave  to  himself;  and 
to  the  last  he  was  only  able  to  write  with  difficulty. 
When  a  boy,  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  barber,  and  after 
learning  the  business,  he  set  up  for  himself  in  Bolton  in 
1760,  occupying  an  underground  cellar,  over  which  he 
put  up  the  sign,  "  Come  to  the  subterraneous  barber,  — 
he  shaves  for  a  penny."  The  other  barbers  found  their 
customers  leaving  them,  and  reduced  their  prices  to  his 
standard ;  when  Arkwright,  determined  to  push  his  trade, 
announced  his  determination  to  give  "  A  dean  shave  for 
a  half-penny,"  After  a  few  years  he  quitted  his  cellar, 
and  became  an  itinerant  dealer  in  hair.  At  that  time 
wigs  were  worn,  and  this  was  an  important  branch  of  the 
barbering  business.  He  went  about  buying  hair,  and  was 
accustomed  to  attend  the  hiring  fairs  throughout  Lanca- 
shire resorted  to  by  young  women,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  their  long  tresses  ;  and  it  is  said  that  in  negotia- 
tions of  this  sort  he  was  very  successful.  He  also  dealt 
in  a  chemical  .hair-dye,  which  he  used  adroitly,  and  thereby 
secured  a  considerable  trade.  Being  of  a  mechanical  turn, 
he  devoted  a  good  deal  of  his  spare  time  to  contriving  mod- 
els of  machines,  and,  like  many  self-taught  men  of  the  same 
bias,  he  endeavored  to  invent  perpetual  motion.  He  fol- 
lowed his  experiments  so  devotedly  that  he  neglected  his 


48  RICHARD  ARKWRIGHT,  — INVENTOR.      CHAP.  II. 

business,  lost  the  little  money  he  had  saved,  and  was 
reduced  to  great  poverty.  His  wife  —  for  he  had  by 
this  time  married  —  was  impatient  at  what  she  conceived 
to  be  a  wanton  waste  of  time  and  money,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment of  sudden  wrath,  she  seized  upon  and  destroyed  his 
models,  hoping  thus  to  remove  the  cause  of  the  family 
privations.  Arkwright  was  a  stubborn  and  enthusiastic 
man,  and  he  was  provoked  beyond  measure  by  this  con- 
duct of  his  wife,  which  he  never  forgave  ;  and  he,  in 
consequence,  separated  from  her. 

In  travelling  about  the  country,  Arkwright  had  be- 
come acquainted  with  a  person  named  Kay,  a  clock-maker 
at  Warrington,  who  assisted  him  in  constructing  some  of 
the  parts  of  his  perpetual-motion  machinery.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  was  first  informed  by  Kay  of  the  principle 
of  spinning  by  rollers.  The  idea  at  once  took  firm  pos- 
session of  his  mind,  and  he  proceeded  to  devise  the  pro- 
cess by  which  it  was  to  be  accomplished,  Kay  being  able 
to  tell  him  nothing  on  this  point.  Arkwright  now  aban- 
doned his  business  of  hair  collecting,  and  devoted  himself 
to  the  perfecting  of  his  machine,  a  model  of  which,  con- 
structed by  Kay,  under  his  directions,  he  set  up  in 
the  parlor  of  the  Free  Grammar  School  at  Preston. 
Being  a  burgess  of  the  town,  he  voted  at  the  contested 
election  at  which  General  Burgoyne  was  returned ;  but 
such  was  his  poverty,  and  such  the  tattered  state  of  his 
dress,  that  a  number  of  persons  subscribed  a  sum  suffi- 
cient to  have  him  put  in  a  state  fit  to  appear  in  the  poll- 
room.  The  exhibition  of  his  machine  in  a  town  where 
BO  many  work-people  lived  by  the  exercise  of  manual 
labor  proved  a  dangerous  experiment ;  there  were  omi- 
nous growlings  heard  outside  from  time  to  time,  and 
Arkwright,  —  remembering  the  fate  of  poor  Hargreaves'a 


CHAP.H.    RICHARD  ARKWRIGHT,  — MANUFACTURER.       49 

spinning-jenny,  which  had  been  pulled  to  pieces  only  a 
short  time  before  by  a  Blackburn  mob,  —  wisely  deter- 
mined on  packing  up  his  model  and  removing  to  a  less 
dangerous  locality.  He  went  accordingly  to  Nottingham, 
where  he  applied  to  some  of  the  local  bankers  for  pecu- 
niary assistance ;  and  the  Messrs.  Wright  consented  to 
advance  him  a  sum  of  money  on  condition  of  sharing  in 
the  profits  of  the  invention.  The  machine,  however,  not 
being  perfected  so  soon  as  they  had  anticipated,  the  bank- 
ers recommended  Arkwright  to  apply  to  Messrs.  Strutt 
and  Need,  the  former  of  whom  was  the  ingenious  inven- 
tor and  patentee  of  the  stocking-frame.  Mr.  Strutt  was 
quick  to  perceive  the  merits  of  the  invention,  and  a  part- 
nership was  entered  into  with  Arkwright,  whose  road  to 
fortune  was  now  clear.  The  patent  was  secured  in  the 
name  of  "  Richard  Arkwright,  of  Nottingham,  clock- 
maker,"  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  it  was  taken  out 
in  1769,  the  very  same  year  in  which  Watt  secured  the 
patent  for  his  steam-engine.  A  cotton-mill  was  first 
erected  at  Nottingham,  driven  by  horses  ;  and  another 
was  shortly  after  built,  on  a  much  larger  scale,  at  Crom- 
ford,  in  Derbyshire,  turned  by  a  water-wheel,  from  which 
circumstance  the  spinning-machine  came  to  be  called  the 
water-frame. 

Ark  wright's  labors,  however,  were,  comparatively 
speaking,  only  begun.  He  had  still  to  perfect  all  the 
working  details  of  his  machine.  It  was  in  his  hands  the 
subject  of  constant  modification  and  improvement,  until 
eventually  it  was  rendered  practicable  and  profitable  in 
an  eminent  degree.  But  success  was  only  secured  by 
long  and  patient  labor ;  for  some  years,  indeed,  the  specu- 
lation was  disheartening  and  unprofitable,  swallowing  up 
a  very  large  amount  of  capital  without  any  result.  When 


50  BEATEN,  NOT  SUBDUED.  CHAP.  JL 

success  began  to  appear  more  certain,  then  the  Lanca- 
shire manufacturers  fell  upon  Arkwright's  patent  to  pull 
it  in  pieces,  as  the  Cornish  miners  fell  upon  Boulton  and 
Watt,  to  rob  them  of  the  profits  of  their  steam-engine. 
Arkwright  was  even  denounced  as  the  enemy  of  the 
working  people ;  and  a  mill  which  he  built  near  Chorley 
was  destroyed  by  a  mob  in  the  presence  of  a  strong  force 
of  police  and  military.  The  Lancashire  men  refused  to 
buy  his  materials,  though  they  were  confessedly  the  best 
in  the  market.  Then  they  refused  to  pay  patent-right 
for  the  use  of  his  machines,  and  combined  to  crush  him 
in  the  courts  of  law.  To  the  disgust  of  right-minded 
people,  Arkwright's  patent  was  upset.  But  though 
beaten,  he  was  not  subdued.  He  established  large  mills 
in  other  parts  of  Lancashire,  in  Derbyshire,  and  at  New 
Lanark,  in  Scotland.  The  mills  at  Cromford  also  came 
into  his  own  hands  at  the  expiring  of  his  partnership 
with  Strutt,  and  the  amount  and  the  excellence  of  his 
products  were  such,  that  in  a  short  time  he  obtained  so 
complete  a  control  of  the  trade,  that  the  prices  were 
fixed  by  him,  and  he  governed  the  main  operations  of 
the  other  cotton-spinners. 

Arkwright  was  a  tremendous  worker,  and  a  man  of 
marvellous  energy,  ardor,  and  application  in  business. 
At  one  period  of  his  life  he  was  usually  engaged,  in  the 
severe  and  continuous  labors  involved  by  the  organiza- 
tion and  conduct  of  his  numerous  manufactories,  from 
four  in  the  morning  until  nine  at  night.  At  fifty  years 
of  age  he  set  to  work  to  learn  English  grammar,  and 
improve  himself  in  writing  and  orthography.  When  he 
travelled,  to  save  time,  he  went  at  great  speed,  drawn  by 
four  horses.  Be  it  for  good  or  for  evil,  Arkwright  was 
Ihe  founder  in  England  of  the  modern  factory  system, 


CHAP.  II.  MATTHEW  BOULTON.  51 

a  branch  of  industry  which  has  unquestionably  proved 
a  source  of  immense  wealth  to  individuals  and  to  the 
nation. 

It  is  not  every  inventor,  however  skilled,  who  is  a 
veritable  Leader  of  Industry  like  Arkwright.  Many  dis- 
tinguished inventors  are  found  comparatively  helpless  in 
the  conduct  of  business,  which  demands  the  exercise  of 
different  qualities,  —  the  power  of  organizing  the  labor 
of  large  numbers  of  men,  promptitude  of  action  on  emer- 
gencies, and  sagacious  dealing  with  the  practical  affairs 
of  life.  Thus  Watt  hated  that  jostling  with  the  world, 
and  contact  with  men  of  many  classes,  which  are  usually 
encountered  in  the  conduct  of  any  extensive  industrial 
operation.  He  declared  that  he  would  rather  face  a 
loaded  cannon  than  settle  an  account  or  make  a  bargain ; 
and  there  is  every  probability  that  he  would  have  de- 
rived no  pecuniary  advantage  whatever  from  his  great 
invention,  or  been  able  to  defend  it  against  the  repeated 
attacks  of  the  mechanical  pirates  who  fell  upon  him  in 
Cornwall,  London,  and  Lancashire,  had  he  not  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  meet,  at  the  great  crisis  of  his  career,  with 
the  illustrious  Matthew  Boulton,  "  the  father  of  Birming- 
ham/' 

Boulton  was  a  man  of  essentially  different  qualities  from 
Watt,  but  quite  as  able  in  his  own  way.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  of  the  great  manufacturing  potentates  now  so 
numerous  in  the  northern  and  midland  counties.  Boul- 
ton's  commencement  in  life  was  humble  ;  his  position  be- 
ing only  that  of  a  Birmingham  button-maker.  In  his 
case,  as  in  every  other,  it  was  not  the  calling  that  ele- 
vated the  man,  but  the  man  that  elevated  the  calling.  He 
was  gifted  by  nature  with  fine  endowments,  which  he  cul- 
tivated to  the  utmost.  He  possessed  a  genius  for  business 


52  MATTHEW  BOULTON.  CHAP.  II 

of  the  highest  order ;  being  of  sound  understanding  and 
quick  perception,  and  prompt  to  carry  out  the  measures 
which  his  judgment  approved.  Hence  he  rarely,  if  ever, 
failed ;  for  his  various  enterprises,  bold  though  they  were, 
were  always  guided  by  prudence.  He  was  not  a  man  to 
drive  a  wedge  the  broad  end  foremost ;  because  he  pos- 
sessed an  admirable  tact,  polished  by  experience,  which 
enabled  him  unerringly  to 'determine  when  and  how  to 
act.  He  actively  conducted  his  business,  and  ne\er 
allowed  himself  to  be  driven  by  it.  He  threw  into  his 
daily  labors  his  individual  uprightness  and  integrity, — 
qualities  which  are  the  glory  of  every  man's  character, 
whatever  his  position  in  life  may  be.  And  although  he 
prospered  and  became  rich,  according  to  his  deserts,  it 
might  be  said  of  him  with  truth,  that  there  was  not  a 
dirty  shilling  in  all  that  he  earned. 

Beside  being  great  as  a  man  of  business,  Boulton  was 
a  highly  cultivated  man  of  science,  a  generous  patron  of 
art,  and  a  diligent  cultivator  of  literature ;  but  t)m  chief 
aim  and  labor  of  his  life  was  the  practical  introduction  01 
Watt's  steam-engine  as  the  great  working-power  of  Eng- 
land. With  pride  he  said  to  Boswell,  when  visiting  Soho, 
"  I  sell  here,  sir,  what  all  the  world  desires  to  have,  — 
POWER."  "  He  had,"  continues  Boswell,  "  about  seven 
hundred  people  at  work  ;  I  contemplated  him  as  an  iron 
chieftain ;  and  he  seemed  to  be  a  father  of  his  tribe." 
Mrs.  Schimmel  Penninck  characterizes  him  as  a  man  of 
noble,  open,  and  cordial  manners,  and  of  princely  munifi- 
cence ;  <k  he  went  among  his  people,"  she  says,  "  like  a 
monarch  bestowing  largess."  He  was  a  true  lord  and 
leader  of  industry.  Every  step  in  his  career  was  won 
by  honest  work  and  valiant  effort.  No  envy  follows  the 
career  of  such  a  man  ;  but  praise,  reward,  ard  blessings. 


CHAP.  II.  THE  PEEL  FAMILY.  53 

When  he  died,  he  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  entire , 
body  of  his  workmen,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  dry  eye 
amongst  them. 

All  other  great  branches  of  industry  in  Britain  furnish 
equally  illustrious  examples  of  energetic  men  of  business, 
who  have  been  the  source  of  untold  benefits  to  the  neigh- 
borhoods in  which  they  have  labored,  and  of  greatly 
increased  power  and  wealth  to  the  community  at  large. 
Amongst  such  might  be  cited  the  Strutts  of  Belper ;  the 
Tennants  of  Glasgow;  the  Marshalls  and  Gotts  of 
Leeds ;  the  Peels,  Ashworths,  Birleys,  Fieldens,  Ashtons, 
Heywoods,  and  Ainsworths  of  South  Lancashire.  For 
the  present,  however,  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  a 
single  family,  since  become  eminently  distinguished  in 
connection  with  the  political  history  of  England ;  we 
refer  to  the  Peels  of  South  Lancashire. 

The  founder  of  the  Peel  family,  about  the  middle  of  last 
century,  was  a  small  yeoman,  occupying  the  Hole  House 
Farm,  near  Blackburn,  from  which  he  afterwards  re- 
moved to  a  house  situated  in  Fish  Lane  in  that  town 
Robert  Peel,  as  he  advanced  in  life,  saw  a  large  family 
of  sons  and  daughters  growing  up  about  him ;  but  the 
land  about  Blackburn  being  somewhat  barren,  it  did  not 
appear  to  him  that  agricultural  pursuits  offered  a  very 
encouraging  prospect  for  their  industry.  The  place  had, 
however,  long  been  the  seat  of  a  domestic  manufacture,  — 
the  fabric  called  "  Blackburn  grays,"  consisting  of  linen 
weft  and  cotton  warp,  being  chiefly  made  in  that  town 
and  its  neighborhood.  It  was  then  customary  —  previ- 
ous to  the  introduction  of  the  factory  system  —  for  indus- 
trious yeomen  with  families  to  employ  the  time  nol 
occupied  in  the  fields  in  weaving  at  home ;  and  Robert 
Peel  accordingly  began  the  domestic  trade  of  calico- 


54  THE   PEEL   FAMILY. 

making.  He  was  honest,  and  made  an  honest  article ; 
thrifty  and  hard-working ;  and  his  trade  prospered.  He 
was  also  enterprising,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  adopt 
the  carding  cylinder,  then  recently  invented. 

But  Robert  Peel's  attention  was  principally  directed  to 
the  printing  of  calico,  —  then  a  comparatively  unknown 
art,  —  and  for  some  time  he  carried  on  a  series  of  ex- 
periments with  the  object  of  printing  by  machinery.  The 
experiments  were  secretly  conducted  in  his  own  house, 
the  cloth  being  ironed  for  the  purpose  by  one  of  the 
women  of  the  family.  It  was  then  customary,  in  such 
houses  as  the  Peels,  to  use  pewter  plates  at  dinner. 
Having  sketched  a  figure  or  pattern  on  one  of  the  plates, 
the  thought  struck  him  that  an  impression  might  be  got 
from  it  in  reverse,  and  printed  on  calico  with  color.  In  a 
cottage  at  the  end  of  the  farm-house  lived  a  woman  who 
kept  a  calendering  machine,  and  going  into  her  cottage, 
he  put  the  plate  with  color  rubbed  into  the  figured  part 
and  some  calico  over  it  through  the  machine,  when  it  was 
found  to  leave  a  satisfactory  impression.  Such  is  said  to 
have  been  the  origin  of  roller  printing  on  calico.  Robert 
Peel  shortly  perfected  his  process,  and  the  first  pattern 
he  brought  out  was  a  parsley  leaf;  hence  he  is  spoken  of 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Blackburn  to  this  day  as  u  Pars- 
ley Peel."  The  process  of  calico-printing  by  what  is 
called  the  mule  machine,  —  that  is,  by  means  of  a  wooden 
cylinder  in  relief,  with  an  engraved  copper  cylinder,  — 
was  afterwards  brought  to  perfection  by  one  of  his  sons, 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  Messrs.  Peel  and  Co.,  of  Church. 
Stimulated  by  his  success,  Robert  Peel  shortly  gave  up 
farming,  and  removing  to  Brookside,  a  village  about  two 
miles  from  Blackburn,  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to 
the  printing  business.  There,  with  the  aid  of  his  sons. 


CHAP.  II.  THE   PEEL   FAMILY.  55 

who  were  as  energetic  as  himself,  he  successfully  carried 
on  the  trade  for  several  years ;  and  as  the  young  men 
grew  up  towards  manhood,  the  concern  branched  out  into 
various  firms  of  Peels,  each  of  which  became  a  centre  of 
industrial  progress  and  remunerative  employment  to  large 
numbers  of  people. 

From  all  that  can  now  be  learned  of  the  character  of 
the  original  and  untitled  Robert  Peel,  he  must  have  been 
a  remarkable  man,  —  shrewd,  sagacious,  and  far-seeing. 
But  very  little  is  known  of  him  excepting  from  tradition, 
and  the  sons  of  those  who  knew  him  are  fast  passing 
away.  Tt  is  not  the  lives  of  such  men  that  are  usually 
recorded  in  books.  The  men  who  "  say  good  things " 
have  always  a  better  chance  of  being  remembered  in  lit- 
erature than  those  who  do  them.  Men  who  write  a  play, 
or  a  book  of  poetry,  will  secure  a  biography,  where  men 
who  establish  new  branches  of  industry,  or  give  a  fresh 
impulse  to  society  in  connection  with  invention  and  pro- 
duction, are  shortly  forgotten.  Nevertheless,  the  works 
of  such  public  benefactors  live  after  them,  and  their  be- 
neficent example  is  reproduced  in  the  action  and  char- 
acter of  their  successors.  His  son,  Sir  Robert,  the  first 
Baronet,  thus  modestly  spoke  of  his  father,  the  founder 
of  the  family  :  "  He  moved  in  a  confined  sphere,  and  em- 
ployed his  talents  in  improving  the  cotton  trade.  He  had 
neither  the  wish  nor  opportunity  of  making  himself  ac- 
quainted with  his  native  country,  or  society  far  removed 
from  his  native  county  of  Lancaster.  I  lived  under  his 
roof  till  I  attained  the  age  of  manhood,  and  had  many 
opportunities  of  discovering  that  he  possessed,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  a  mechanical  genius  and  a  good  heart.  He 
had  many  sons,  and  placed  them  all  in  situations  where 
thry,  might  be  useful  to  each  other.  The  cotton  trade 


56  THE  PEEL  FAMILY.  CHAP.  II. 

was  preferred  as  best  calculated  to  secure  this  object  ? 
and  by  habits  of  industry,  and  imparting  to  his  offspring 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  various  branches  of  the  cot- 
ton manufacture,  he  lived  to  see  his  children  connected 
together  in  business,  and,  by  their  successful  exertions, 
become  without  one  exception,  opulent  and  happy. 
My  father  may  be  truly  said  to  have  been  the  founder 
of  our  family ;  and  he  so  accurately  appreciated  the  im- 
portance of  commercial  wealth  in  a  national  point  of  view, 
that  he  was  often  heard  to  say  that  the  gains  to  individ- 
uals were  small  compared  with  the  national  gains  arising 
from  trade." 

Sir  Robert  Peel  (the  first  baronet),  and  the  second 
manufacturer  of  the  name,  inherited  all  his  father's  enter- 
prise, ability,  and  industry.  His  position  at  starting  in 
life,  was  little  above  that  of  an  ordinary  working  man  ; 
for  his  father,  though  laying  the  foundations  of  future 
prosperity,  was  still  struggling  with  the  difficulties  aris- 
ing from  insufficient  capital.  When  Robert  was  only 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  determined  to  begin  the  business 
of  cotton-printing,  which  he  had  by  this  time  learnt  with 
his  father,  on  his  own  account.  His  uncle,  James  Ha- 
worth,  and  William  Yates  of  Blackburn,  joined  him  in 
his  enterprise ;  the  whole  capital  which  they  could  raise 
amongst  them  amounting  to  only  about  500L,  the  principal 
part  of  which  was  supplied  by  William  Yates.  His  father 
kept  a  small  inn  in  Blackburn,  where  he  was  well  known, 
as  "  Yates  o'  th'  Bull ; "  and  having  saved  money  by  his 
business,  he  was  willing  to  advance  sufficient  to  give  his 
son  a  start  in  the  lucrative  trade  of  cotton-printing,  then 
in  its  infancy.  Robert  Peel,  though  comparatively  a  mere 
youth,  supplied  the  practical  knowledge  of  the  business ; 
but  it  was  said  of  him,  and  proved  true,  that  he  *  carried 


CHAP.  II.  LADY  PEEL.  5/ 

an  old  head  on  young  shoulders."  A  ruined  corn-mill, 
with  its  adjoining  fields,  was  purchased  for  a  comparatively 
small  sum,  near  the  then  insignificant  town  of  Bury,  where 
the  works  long  after  continued  to  be  known  as  "The 
Ground ; "  and  a  few  wooden  sheds  having  been  run  up, 
the  firm  commenced  their  cotton-printing  business  in  a 
very  humble  way  in  the  year  1770,  adding  to  it  that  of 
cotton-spinning  a  few  years  later.  The  frugal  style  in 
which  the  partners  lived  may  be  inferred  from  the  fol- 
lowing incident  in  their  early  career.  William  Yates, 
being  a  married  man  with  a  family,  commenced  house- 
keeping on  a  small  scale,  and  to  oblige  Peel,  who  was 
single,  he  agreed  to  take  him  as  a  lodger.  The  sum 
which  the  latter  first  paid  for  board  and  lodging,  was  only 
8s.  a  week  ;  but  Yates,  considering  this  too  little,  insisted 
on  the  weekly  payment  being  increased  a  shilling,  to 
which  Peel  at  first  demurred,  and  a  difference  between 
the  partners  took  place,  which  was  eventually  compro- 
mised by  the  lodger  paying  an  advance  of  sixpence  a 
week.  William  Yates's  eldest  child  was  a  girl  named 
Ellen,  and  she  very  soon  became  an  especial  favorite 
with  the  young  lodger.  On  returning  from  his  hard  day's 
work  at  "  The  Ground,"  he  would  take  the  little  girl  upon 
his  knee,  and  say  to  her,  "  Nelly,  thou  bonny  little  dear, 
wilt  be  my  wife  ?  "  to  which  the  child  would  readily  an- 
swer "  Yes,"  as  any  child  would  do.  "  Then  I'll  wait  for 
thee,  Nelly ;  I'll  wed  thee,  and  none  else."  And  Robert 
Peel  did  wait.  As  the  girl  grew  in  beauty  towards 
womanhood,  his  determination  to  wait  for  her  was  strength- 
ened ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  ten  years  —  years  of  close 
application  to  business  and  rapidly  increasing  prosperity 
•^-  Robert  Peel  married  Ellen  Yates  when  she  had  com- 
pleted her  seventeenth  year ;  and  the  pretty  child,  whom 
3* 


58  THE  PEEL  FIRMS.  CHAP.  II. 

her  mother's  lodger  and  father's  partner  had  nursed  upon 
his  knee,  became  Mrs.  Peel,  and  eventually  Lady  Peel, 
the  mother  of  the  future  Prime  Minister  of  England. 
Lady  Peel  was  a  noble  and  beautiful  woman,  fitted  to 
grace  any  station  in  life.  She  possessed  rare  powers  of 
mind,  and  was,  on  every  emergency,  the  high-souled  and 
faithful  counsellor  of  her  husband.  For  many  years  after 
their  marriage,  she  acted  as  his  amanuensis,  conducting 
the  principal  part  of  his  business  correspondence,  for  Mr. 
Peel  himself  was  an  indifferent  and  almost  unintelligible 
writer.  She  died  in  1803,  only  three  years  after  the 
Baronetcy  had  been  conferred  upon  her  husband.  It  is 
said  that  London  fashionable  life  —  so  unlike  what  she 
had  been  accustomed  to  at  home  —  proved  injurious  to 
her  health ;  and  old  Mr.  Yates  was  afterwards  accustomed 
to  say,  "  if  Robert  hadn't  made  our  Nelly  a  '  Lady/  she 
might  ha'  been  living  yet." 

The  career  of  Peel,  Yates,  &  Co.,  was  throughout  one 
of  great  and  uninterrupted  prosperity.  Sir  Robert  Peel 
himself  was  the  soul  of  the  firm ;  to  great  energy  and 
application  uniting  much  practical  sagacity,  and  first-rate 
mercantile  abilities  —  qualities  in  which  many  of  the  early 
cotton-spinners  were  exceedingly  deficient.  He  was  a 
man  of  iron  mind  and  frame,  and  toiled  unceasingly.  In 
short,  he  was  to  cotton-printing  what  Arkwright  was 
to  cotton-spinning,  and  his  success  was  equally  great. 
The  excellence  of  the  articles  produced  by  the  firm  se- 
cured the  command  of  the  market,  and  the  character  of 
the  firm  stood  preeminent  in  Lancashire.  Besides  greatly 
benefiting  Bury,  the  partnership  planted  similar  extensive 
works  in  the  neighborhood,  on  the  Irwell  and  the  Roch ; 
and  it  was  cited  to  their  honor,  that,  whilst  they  sought  to 
raise  to  the  highest  perfection  the  quality  of  their  manu- 


CHAP.  II.  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD.  59 

factures,  they  also  endeavored,  in  all  ways,  to  promote  the 
well-being  and  comfort  of  their  work-people.  Even  in 
the  most  unfavorable  times,  their  "  hands  "  never  wanted 
work.  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  quick  to  appreciate  the  value 
of  all  new  processes  and  inventions ;  in  illustration  of 
which  we  may  allude  to  his  .adoption  of  the  process  for 
producing  what  is  called  resist  work  in  calico  printing. 
This  is  accomplished  by  the  use  of  a  paste,  or  resist,  on 
such  parts  of  the  cloth  as  are  intended  to  remain  white. 
The  person  who  discovered  the  paste  was  a  traveller  for 
a  London  house,  who  sold  it  to  Mr.  Peel  for  an  inconsid- 
erable sum.  It  required  the  experience  of  a  year  or  two 
to  perfect  the  system  and  make  it  practically  useful ;  but 
the  beauty  of  its  effect,  and  the  extreme  precision  of  out- 
line in  the  pattern  produced,  at  once  placed  the  Bury 
establishment  at  the  head  of  all  the  factories  for  calico 
printing  in  the  country.  Other  firms,  conducted  with 
similar  spirit,  were  established  by  members  of  the  same 
family  at  Burnley,  Foxhill-bank,  and  Altham,  in  Lanca- 
shire ;  Salley  Abbey,  in  Yorkshire ;  and  afterwards  at 
Burton-on-Trent,  in  Staffordshire ;  these  various  establish- 
ments, whilst  they  brought  immense  wealth  to  the  proprie- 
tors, setting  an  example  to  the  whole  cotton  trade,  and 
training  up  many  of  the  most  successful  printers  and 
manufacturers  in  Lancashire. 

That  the  force  and  development  of  a  country  depends 
mainly  upon  the  industry  and  energy  of  its  individual 
men,  cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  career  of 
Another  distinguished  workman,  Josiah  Wedgwood,  the 
founder  of  the  Staffordshire  Potteries.  His  father  was  a 
poor  potter  at  Burslem,  barely  able  to  make  a  living  at 
his  trade.  He  died  when  Josiah  was  only  eleven  years 
old,  and  at  that  early  age  he  began  to  work  as  a  thrower 


60  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD.  CHAP.  H. 

at  his  elder  brother's  wheel.  The  boy  never  received 
any  school  education  worthy  of  the  name,  and  all  the 
culture  which  he  afterwards  received,  he  obtained  for 
himself.  About  the  time  when  the  boy  began  to  work 
at  the  potter's  wheel,  the  manufacture  of  earthenware 
could  scarcely  be  said  to  exist  in  England.  What  was 
produced  was  altogether  unequal  to  the  supply  of  our 
domestic  wants,  and  large  quantities  of  the  commoner 
sort  of  ware  were  imported  from  abroad,  —  principally 
from  Delft,  in  Holland,  whence  it  was  usually  known  by 
tne  name  of  u  Delft  ware."  Porcelain  for  the  rich  was 
chielty  imported  from  China,  and  sold  at  a  very  high 
price.  No  porcelain  capable  of  resisting  a  scratch  with 
a  hard  point  had  as  yet  been  made  in  this  country.  The 
articles  of  earthenware  produced  in  Staffordshire  were  oi 
MIC  coarsest  quality,  and  were  for  the  most  part  hawked 
'"jout  by  the  workmen  themselves  and  their  families,  or 

/  peddlers,  who  carried  their  stocks  upon  their  backs. 
Whilst  working  with  his  brother  as  a  thrower,  Wedg- 

cood  caught  the  smallpox,  then  a  most  malignant  dis- 
ease :  he  was  thrown  into  ill  health,  and  the  remains 
of  the  disease  seem  to  have  settled  in  his  left  leg,  so 
that  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  having  it  amputated, 
which  compelled  him  to  relinquish  the  potter's  wheel. 
Some  time  after  this  we  find  him  at  Stoke,  in  partnership 
with  a  man  named  Harrison,  as  poor  as  himself, —  in  fact 
both  were  as  yet  but  in  the  condition  of  common  work- 
men. Wedgwood's  taste  for  ornamental  pottery,  however, 
already  began  to  display  itself;  and,  leaving  Harrison, 
we  then  find  him  joined  to  another  workman  named 
Whieldon,  making  earthenware  knife-handles  in  imita- 
tion of  agate  and  tortoise-shell,  melon  table-plates,  green 
pickle-leaves,  and  such  like  articles.  Whieldon  being 


CHAP.  II.  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD.  61 

unwilling  to  pursue  this  fanciful  branch  of  trade,  Wedg- 
wood left  him  and  returned  to  Burslem,  where  he  set  up 
for  himself  in  a  small  thatched  house,  and  went  on  with 
the  production  of  his  articles  of  taste.  He  worked  away 
industriously,  employed  a  few  hands  under  him,  and  grad- 
ually prospered.  He  was  a  close  inquirer  and  an  accu- 
rate observer  in  his  peculiar  line  of  business  ;  and  among 
other  facts  which  came  under  his  notice,  was  this  impor- 
tant one,  —  that  an  earth  containing  silica,  which  was 
black  before  calcination,  became  white  after  exposure  to 
the  heat  of  a  furnace.  This  fact,  observed  and  pondered 
over,  led  to  the  idea  of  mixing  silica  with  the  red  pow- 
der of  the  potteries,  and  to  the  discovery  that  the  mixture 
becomes  white  when  calcined.  He  had  but  to  cover  this 
material  with  a  vitrification  of  transparent  glaze,  to  obtain 
one  of  the  most  important  products  of  fictile  art,  —  that 
which,  under  the  name  of  English  earthenware,  was  to 
attain  the  greatest  commercial  value,  and  to  become  of 
the  most  extensive  utility. 

Wedgwood  now  took  new  premises,  and  began  to 
manufacture  white  stoneware  on  a  large  scale,  and  after- 
wards cream-colored  ware,  which  acquired  great  celeb- 
rity. The  improvement  of  pottery  became  his  passion, 
and  was  never  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment.  Whatever  he 
undertook  to  do  he  worked  at  with  all  his  might,  anima- 
ted by  the  determination  to  excel.  He  now  devoted 
himself  to  patient  chemical  investigation,  and  as  his  means 
increased,  he  spared  neither  labor  nor  expense  in  pur- 
suing his  improvements.  He  sought  the  society  of  men 
of  science,  art,  and  learning ;  and  gleaned  something 
valuable  from  them  all.  Even  when  he  had  acquired 
a  competency,  he  went  forward  perfecting  his  manu- 
facture, until,  his  example  extending  in  all  directions,  the 


62  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD.  CHAP.  II. 

industry  of  the  entire  district  was  stimulated,  and  a  great 
branch  of  British  industry  was  eventually  established  on 
firm  foundations.  He  was  cheerfully  assisted  in  his  ob- 
jects by  persons  of  rank  and  influence ;  for,  working  in 
the  truest  spirit,  he  readily  commanded  the  help  and  en- 
couragement of  all  true  workers.  He  made  for  Queen 
Charlotte  the  first  royal  table-service  of  English  manu- 
fajture,  of  the  kind  afterwards  called  "  Queen's-ware," 
and  was  forthwith  appointed  her  Royal  Potter,  a  title 
which  Wedgwood  more  prized  than  if  he  had  been  cre- 
ated a  baron.  Valuable  sets  of  porcelain  were  intrusted 
to  him  for  imitation,  in  which  he  succeeded  to  admiration. 
Sir  William  Hamilton  lent  him  specimens  of  ancient  art, 
from  Herculaneum,  of  which  Wedgwood's  ingenious  work- 
men produced  the  most  accurate  and  beautiful  copies. 
The  Duchess  of  Portland  outbid  him  for  the  Barberini 
Vase  when  that  article  was  offered  for  sale ;  he  bid  as 
high  as  seventeen  hundred  guineas  for  it,  but  her  grace 
secured  it  for  the  sum  of  eighteen  hundred  guineas ;  but 
when  she  learned  Wedgwood's  object  she  at  once  gener- 
ously lent  him  the  vase  to  copy.  He  produced  fifty  copies 
at  a  cost  of  about  2,500?.,  and  his  expenses  were  not  cov- 
ered by  their  sale ;  but  he  gained  his  object,  which  was 
to  show  that  whatever  had  been  done,  that  English  skill 
and  energy  could  and  would  accomplish. 

Wedgwood  called  to  his  aid  the  crucible  of  the  chemist, 
the  knowledge  of  the  antiquary,  and  the  skill  of  the 
artist.  He  found  out  Flaxman  when  a  youth,  and  while 
he  liberally  nurtured  his  genius  drew  from  him  a  large 
number  of  beautiful  designs  for  his  pottery  and  porcelain  ; 
converting  them  by  his  manufacture  into  objects  of  taste 
and  excellence,  and  thus  making  them  instrumental  in 
the  diffusion  of  classical  art  amongst  the  people.  By 


CHAP.  II.  JOSIAH  \\EDGWOOD.  63 

careful  experiment  and  study  he  was  even  enabled  to  re- 
discover the  art  of  painting  on  porcelain  or  earthenware 
vases  and  similar  articles,  —  an  art  practised  by  the  an- 
cient Etruscans,  but  which  had  been  lost  since  the  time 
of  Pliny.  He  distinguished  himself  by  his  own  contribu- 
tions to  science,  and  his  name  is  still  identified  with  the 
pyrometer  which  he  invented.  He  was  also  an  indefati- 
gable supporter  of  all  measures  of  public  utility ;  and 
the  construction  of  the  Trent  and  Mersey  Canal,  which 
completed  the  navigable  communication  between  the 
eastern  and  western  sides  of  the  island,  was  mainly  due 
to  his  public-spirited  exertions  allied  to  the  engineering 
skill  of  Brindley.  The  road  accommodation  of  the  dis- 
trict being  of  an  execrable  character,  he  planned  and 
executed  a  turnpike-road  through  the  Potteries,  ten  miles 
in  length.  The  reputation  he  achieved  was  such  that 
his  works  at  Burslem,  and  subsequently  those  at  Etruria, 
which  he  founded  and  built,  became  a  point  of  attraction 
to  distinguished  visitors  from  all  parts  of  Europe. 

The  result  of  Wedgwood's  labors  was,  that  the  manu- 
facture of  pottery,  which  he  found  in  the  very  lowest 
condition,  became  one  of  the  staples  of  England;  and 
instead  of  importing  what  we  needed  for  home  use  from 
abroad,  we  became  large  exporters  to  other  countries, 
supplying  them  with  earthenware  even  in  the  face  of 
enormous  prohibitory  duties  on  articles  of  British  prod- 
uce. Wedgwood  gave  evidence  as  to  his  manufactures 
before  Parliament  in  1785,  only  some  thirty  years  after 
he  had  begun  his  operations ;  from  which  it  appeared,  that 
from  providing  only  casual  employment  to  a  small  num- 
ber of  inefficient  and  badly  remunerated  workmen,  there 
were  then  about  20,000  persons  deriving  their  bread 
directly  from  the  manufacture  of  earthenware,  without 


64  HERBERT  MINTON.  CHAP.  II 

taking  into  account  the  increased  numbers  to  which  it 
gave  employment  in  coal-mines,  and  in  the  carrying  trade 
by  land  and  sea,  and  the  stimulus  which  it  gave  to  em- 
ployment in  many  ways  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
Yet,  important  as  had  been  the  advances  made  in  his 
time,  Mr.  Wedgwood  was  of  opinion  that  the  manufacture 
was  but  in  its  infancy,  and  that  the  improvements  which 
he  had  effected  were  of  but  small  amount  compared  with 
those  to  which  the  art  was  capable  of  attaining,  through 
the  continued  industry  and  growing  intelligence  of  the 
manufacturers,  and  the  natural  facilities  and  political  ad- 
vantages enjoyed  by  Great  Britain ;  an  opinion  which  has 
been  fully  borne  out  by  the  progress  which  has  since  been 
effected  in  this  important  branch  of  industry. 

Not  to  speak  of  Spode,  Davenport,  Ridgway,  and  others 
equally  distinguished,  we  may  briefly  notice  the  late  Mr. 
Herbert  Minton,  as  actively  taking  up  the  work  at  the 
stage  at  which  Wedgwood  left  it,  carrying  the  manufac- 
ture on  to  new  triumphs,  and  greatly  extending  this 
branch  of  industry.  Mr.  Minton  was  not  so  much  a 
highly  educated  man,  nor  an  economist,  nor  inventor,  as 
characterized  by  the  inexhaustible  activity  and  ceaseless 
energy  which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  the  creation  of  a 
colossal  business,  employing  some  1,500  skilled  artisans. 
He  possessed  a  clear  head,  a  strong  body,  rare  powers  of 
observation,  and  great  endurance  ;  he  was,  besides,  pos- 
sessed by  that  pride  and  love  of  his  calling  without  which 
so  much  perseverance  and  devotion  to  it  could  scarcely 
have  been  looked  for.  Withal  he  was  kindly  and  genial, 
commanding  hosts  of  friends  and  cooperators;  his  rivals 
themselves  regarding  him  with  admiration,  and  looking 
up  to  him  as  the  prince  of  his  order.  Like  Wedgwood, 
be  employed  first-rate  artists,  —  painters  in  enamel, 


CHAP.  II.  ritfRBERT  MINT  ON.  65 

sculptors,  designers  of  flowers  and  figures,  —  and  spar- 
ing neither  pains  nor  expense  in  securing  the  best  work- 
men, whether  English  or  foreign.  The  talents  of  the 
men  employed  by  him  were  carefully  discriminated  and 
duly  recognized,  and  merit  felt  stimulated  by  the  hope 
of  promotion  and  reward.  The  result  soon  was  that 
articles  of  taste,  which  had  formerly  been  of  altogether 
exceptional  production,  became  objects  of  ordinary  supply 
and  demand;  and  objects  of  great  artistic  beauty,  the 
designs  of  which  were  supplied  by  the  best  artists,  were 
placed  within  reach  of  persons  of  moderate  means.  The 
quality  of  the  articles  manufactured  at  his  works  became 
so  proverbial,  that  one  day  when  Pickford's  carrier  rudely 
delivered  a  package  from  his  cart  at  the  hall-door  of  an 
exhibition  of  ceramic  manufactures,  and  the  officer  in 
waiting  expostulated  with  the  man  on  his  incautious 
handling  of  the  package,  his  ready  answer  was :  "  Oh, 
never  fear,  sir ;  it's  Minton's,  it  won't  break." 

It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  Mr.  Minton,  by  his 
unaided  energy  and  enterprise,  and  at  his  own  risk,  was 
enabled  successfully  to  compete  with  the  Sevres  manufac- 
tures of  France,  which  are  produced  by  the  cooperation 
of  a  large  number  of  talented  men,  and  the  assistance  of 
almost  unlimited  state  funds.  In  many  of  the  articles 
exhibited  at  Paris  in  1851,  Mr.  Minton's  even  excelled 
those  of  similar  character  produced  at  the  Imperial  man- 
ufactory. In  hard  porcelain  also,  he  outvied  the  best 
specimens  of  Meissen  and  Berlin  ware ;  in  Parian,  he 
was  only  approached  by  Copeland ;  whilst  in  the  manu- 
facture of  encaustic  tiles  he  stood  without  a  rival.  In 
perfecting  these  several  branches  Mr.  Minton  had  many 
difficulties  to  encounter  and  failures  to  surmount,  but  with 
true  English  energy  and  determination  to  succeed,  he 


66  HEROES  OF  ENGLAND.  CHAP.  II, 

surmounted  them  all,  and  at  length  left  even  the  best 
of  the  ancient  tiles  far  behind.  Like  Wedgwood,  he 
elevated  the  public  taste,  introduced  beautiful  objects  of 
art  into  the  homes  of  the  people,  and  by  founding  new 
branches  of  industry,  mainly  by  his  energy  and  ability, 
he  nobly  earned  the  claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  great 
national  benefactor. 

Men  such  as  these  are  fairly  entitled  to  rank  among 
the  heroes  of  England.  Their  patient  self-reliance  amidst 
trials  and  difficulties,  their  courage  and  perseverance  in 
the  pursuit  of  worthy  aims  and  purposes,  are  no  less 
heroic  of  their  kind  than  the  bravery  and  devotion  of  the 
soldier  and  the  sailor,  whose  duty  and  whose  pride  it  is 
heroically  to  defend  what  these  valiant  leaders  of  industry 
h*ve  as  heroically  achieved. 


CHAP.  III.         FORTUNE  FAVORS  INDUSTRY.  67 


CHAPTER  III. 

APPLICATION   AND    PERSEVERANCE. 

"  See  first  that  the  design  is  wise  and  just ; 

That  ascertained,  pursue  it  resolutely. 

Do  not  for  one  repulse  forego  the  purpose 

That  you  resolved  to  effect." 
"  Allez  en  avant,  et  la  foi  vous  viendra !  "  —  D'Alembert. 

THE  greatest  results  in  life  are  usually  attained  by 
simple  means,  and  the  exercise  of  ordinary  qualities. 
The  common  life  of  every  day,  with  its  cares,  necessities, 
and  duties,  affords  ample  opportunity  for  acquiring  experi- 
ence of  the  best  kind ;  and  its  most  beaten  paths  provide 
the  true  worker  with  abundant  scope  for  effort  and  room 
for  self-improvement.  The  great  high-road  of  human 
welfare  lies  along  the  old  highway  of  steadfast  well- 
doing ;  and  they  who  are  the  most  persistent,  and  work 
in  the  truest  spirit,  will  invariably  be  the  most  success- 
ful. 

Fortune  has  often  been  blamed  for  her  blindness  ;  but 
fortune  is  not  so  blind  as  men  are.  Those  who  look  into 
practical  life  will  find  that  fortune  is  usually  on  the 
side  of  the  industrious,  as  the  winds  and  waves  are  on 
the  side  of  the  best  navigators.  Success  treads  on  the 
heels  of  every  right  effort ;  and  though  it  is  possible  to 
overestimate  success  to  the  extent  of  almost  deifying  it, 
as  is  sometimes  done,  still,  in  any  worthy  pursuit,  it  is 
meritorious.  Nor  are  the  qualities  necessary  to  insure 


C8  GENIUS  DEFINED.  CHAP.  III. 

success  at  all  extraordinary.  They  may,  for  the  most 
part,  be  summed  up  in  these  two,  —  common  sense  and 
perseverance.  Genius  may  not  be  necessary,  though 
even  genius  of  the  highest  sort  does  not  despise  the  exer- 
cise of  these  common  qualities.  The  very  greatest  men 
have  been  among  the  least  believers  in  the  power  of 
genius,  and  as  worldly  wise  and  persevering  as  successful 
men  of  the  commoner  sort.  Some  have  even  defined 
genius  to  be  only  common  sense  intensified.  A  distin- 
guished teacher  and  president  of  a  college  spoke  of  it  as 
the  power  of  making  efforts.  John  Foster  held  it  to 
be  the  power  of  lighting  one's  own  fire.  Buffon  said  of 
genius,  —  It  is  patience. 

Newton's  was  unquestionably  a  mind  of  the  very- 
highest  order,  and  yet,  when  asked  by  what  means  he 
had  worked  out  his  extraordinary  discoveries,  he  modestly 
answered,  "  By  always  thinking  unto  them."  At  another 
time  he  thus  expressed  his  method  of  study :  "  I  keep 
the  subject  continually  before  me,  and  wait  till  the  first 
dawnings  open  slowly  by  little  and  little  into  a  full  and 
clear  light."  It  was  in  Newton's  case,  as  it  is  in  every 
other,  only  by  diligent  application  and  perseverance  that 
his  great  reputation  was  achieved.  Even  hits  recreation 
consisted  merely  in  a  variety  in  his  industry, — leaving 
one  subject  only  to  take  up  another.  To  Dr.  Bentley  he 
said  :  "  If  I  have  done  the  public  any  service,  it  is  due 
to  nothing  but  industry  and  patient  thought."  So  Kepler, 
another  great  philosopher,  speaking  of  his  studies  and  his 
progress,  said  :  "  As  in  Virgil,  '  Fama  mobilitate  viget, 
vires  acquirit  eundo,'  so  it  was  with  me,  that  the  diligent 
thought  on  these  things  was  the  occasion  of  still  furthei 
thinking ;  until  at  last  I  brooded  with  the  whole  energy 
of  my  mind  upon  the  subject." 


CHAP.  III.  BIDDER,  THE  ENGINEER.  69 

The  extraordinary  results  effected  by  dint  of  sheer  in- 
dustry and  perseverance,  have  led  many  distinguished 
men  to  doubt  whether  the  gift  of  genius  be  so  exceptional 
an  endowment  as  it  is  generally  supposed  to  be.  Thus 
Voltaire  held  that  it  is  only  a  very  slight  line  of  separation 
that  divides  the  man  of  genius  from  the  man  of  ordinary 
mould.  Beccaria  was  even  of  opinion  that  all  men  migh 
oe  poets  and  orators,  and  Reynolds  that  they  might  be 
painters  and  sculptors.  If  this  were  really  so,  that  stolid 
Englishman  might  not  have  been  so  very  far  wrong  after 
all,  who,  on  Canova's  death,  inquired  of  his  brother  whether 
it  was  "  his  intention  to  carry  on  the  business !  "  Locke, 
Helvetius,  and  Diderot  believed  that  all  men  have  an 
equal  aptitude  for  genius ;  and  that  what  some  are  able 
to  effect  under  the  influence  of  the  fundamental  laws 
which  regulate  the  march  of  intellect,  must  also  be  within 
the  reach  of  others  who,  in  the  same  circumstances,  apply 
themselves  to  like  pursuits.  But  while  admitting  to  the 
fullest  extent  the  wonderful  achievements  of  labor,  and 
xlso  recognizing  the  fact  that  men  of  the  most  distinguished 
genius  have  invariably  been  found  the  most  indefatigable 
workers,  it  must  nevertheless  be  sufficiently  obvious  that, 
without  the  original  endowment  of  heart  and  brain,  no 
amount  of  labor,  however  well  applied,  would  have  pro- 
duced a  Shakspeare,  a  Newton,  a  Beethoven,  or  a  Michael 
Angelo. 

We  have,  however,  a  recent  reassertor  of  the  power 
of  perseverance  in  a  distinguished  living  engineer,  Mr. 
G.  P.  Bidder,  so  well  known  in  his  youth  as  the  wonder- 
ful Calculating  Boy.  In  a  charmingly  modest  account 
which  he  lately  gave  of  himself  before  the  Institute  of 
Civil  Engineers,  Mr.  Bidder  insisted  that  his  remarkable 
oower  of  mental  calculation,  a  power  exhibited  by  so  few 


70  MDDER,  THE  ENGINEER.  CHAP.  III. 

that  we  must  account  it  as  abnormal,  can  be  acquired  by 
any  one  who  will  devote  time,  attention,  and  persever- 
ance to  the  subject.  "  I  have  endeavored,"  he  said,  "  to 
examine  my  own  mind,  to  compare  it  with  that  of  others, 
and  to  discover  if  such  be  the  case ;  but  I  can  detect  no 
particular  turn  of  mind,  beyond  a  predilection  for  figures, 
which  many  possess  almost  in  an  equal  degree  with  my- 
self. I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  all  minds  are  alike 
constituted  to  succeed  in  mental  computations  ;  but  I  do 
say  that,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  there  may  be  as  large  a 
number  of  successful  mental  calculators  as  there  are  who 
attain  eminence  in  any  other  branch  of  learning."  Mr. 
Bidder  urged  that  the  proficiency  at  which  he  eventually 
arrived  was  mainly  the  result  of  assiduous  application. 
His  father  was  a  working  mason,  and  his  elder  brother, 
who  pursued  the  same  calling,  first  taught  the  little  boy 
to  count  100.  He  counted  the  numbers  over  and  over 
in  tens.  The  numerals  became  as  it  were  his  friends,  and 
he  knew  all  their  relations  and  acquaintances.  He  next 
set  about  learning  the  multiplication  table  in  his  own  way, 
by  means  of  peas  or  marbles  ;  and  a  small  bag  of  shot 
which  he  obtained,  proved  a  great  treasure  to  him.  These 
he  arranged  into  squares,  each  line  consisting  of  an  equal 
number  of  shot,  and,  counting  their  sides,  he  thus  learned 
to  multiply  up  to  10  times  10.  Opposite  his  father's 
house  lived  a  blacksmith,  who,  not  having  any  children, 
had  taken  a  nephew  as  his  apprentice.  With  this  old 
gentleman  the  boy  Bidder  struck  up  an  acquaintance, 
and  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  running  about  his  work- 
shop. As  his  strength  increased  he  was  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  being  permitted  to  blow  the  bellows  for  him, 
and  on  winter  evenings  he  was  allowed  to  perch  himself 
on  the  forge-hearth,  listening  to  his  stories.  On  one  of 


CHAP.  III.  BIDDER,  THE  ENGINEER.  71 

these  occasions  somebody  by  chance  mentioned  a  sum,  — 
perhaps  9  times  9, — which  the  boy  at  once  answered  cor- 
rectly. This  excited  a  little  astonishment,  and  then  other 
questions  were  put  to  "  fickle  "  him,  but  which  he  answer- 
ed with  equal  facility.  The  numbers  multiplied  were  so 
high,  that  the  old  gentleman's  nephew  had  to  work  up 
the  sums  with  chalk  upon  a  board,  to  see  that  they  were 
right,  and  they  were  found  so.  The  boy  became  talked 
of  as  a  wonder,  and  half-pence  began  to  flow  into  his 
pocket ;  so  that,  what  with  the  gain  and  the  eclat,  he 
became  still  more  attached  to  the  science  of  arithmetic ; 
and  he  got  on  by  degrees  until  the  multiple  of  figures 
which  he  could  accomplish  arrived  at  thousands,  and  he 
eventually  became  familiar  with  the  multiplication  table 
up  to  a  million.  Thb  "  Extraordinary  Calculating  Boy  " 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  prodigies  of  the  day.  The 
phrenologists  had  a  cast  taken  of  his  "  organs,"  and  he 
was  cited  in  the  "Phrenological  Magazine"  as  a  remarka- 
ble proof  of  the  correctness  of  their  "  science."  Some 
time  after  this  he  commenced  the  business  of  life  as  a 
clerk  in  an  assurance  office,  which  he  left  to  enter  the  ser- 
vice of  a  well-known  engineer,  the  late  Mr.  H.  K-.  Palmer. 
His  advance  was  rapid,  and  his  reputation  soon  became 
distinguished,  —  a  result  due  no  less  to  his  perseverance 
than  to  his  eminent  engineering  ability.  For  he  brought 
the  same  habit  of  study  and  application  to  the  business 
of  his  profession,  that  he  had  already  trained  in  master- 
ing the  science  of  numbers.  Speaking  to  his  friends  of 
the  Civil  Engineers'  Institute,  he  said :  "  I  have  sacri- 
ficed years  of  labor ;  I  have  striven  with  much  persever- 
ance to  obtain,  and  to  retain,  a  power  or  mastery  over 
numbers,  which  will,  probably,  at  all  times  be  as  rare  as 
its  utility  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  Far  be  it  from 


72  VALUE  OF  PERSEVERANCE.  CHAP.  III. 

me  to  say,  however,  that  it  has  been  of  little  use  to  me. 
Undoubtedly  the  acquirement  has  attracted  towards  me 
a  degree  of  notice  which  has  ended  in  raising  me  from 
the  position  of  a  common  laborer  in  which  I  was  born,  to 
that  of  being  able  to  address  you  as  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  of  this  distinguished  Society." 

Dalton,  the  chemist,  always  repudiated  the  notion  of 
nis  being  "a  genius,"  attributing  everything  which  he 
had  accomplished  to  simple  industry  and  accumulation. 
John  Hunter  said  of  himself,  "  My  mind  is  like  a  bee- 
hive ;  but  full  as  it  is  of  buzz  and  apparent  confusion,  it 
is  yet  full  of  order  and  regularity,  and  food  collected  with 
incessant  industry  from  the  choicest  stores  of  nature." 
We  have,  indeed,  but  to  glance  at  the  biographies  of 
great  men  to  find  that  the  most  distinguished  inventor?, 
artists,  thinkers,  and  workers  of  all  sorts,  owe  their  suc- 
cess, in  a  great  measure,  to  their  indefatigable  industry 
and  application.  They  were  men  who  turned  all  things 
to  gold,  —  even  time  itself.  Disraeli  the  elder  held  that 
the  secret  of  all  success  consisted  in  being  master  of  your 
subject,  such  mastery  being  attainable  only  through  con- 
tinuous application  and  study.  Hence  it  happens  that 
the  men  who  have  most  moved  the  world,  have  not  been 
BO  much  men  of  genius,  strictly  so  called,  as  men  of  in- 
tense mediocre  abilities,  untiring  workers,  persevering 
self-reliant,  and  indefatigable ;  not  so  often  the  gifted,  of 
naturally  bright  and  shining  qualities,  as  those  who  have 
applied  themselves  diligently  to  their  work,  in  whatever 
line  that  might  lie.  "  Alas ! "  said  a  widow,  speaking  of 
her  brilliant  but  careless  son,  "  he  has  not  the  gift  of  con- 
tinuance." Wanting  in  perseverance,  such  volatile  na- 
tures are  outstripped  in  the  race  of  life  by  the  diligent 
and  even  the  dull.  "  Che  va  piano,  va  longano,  e  va 


CHAP.  III.  ANECDOTE  OF  SIR  R.  PEEL.  73 

lontano,"  says  the  Italian  proverb :  who  goes  slowly,  goes 
long,  and  goes  far. 

Hence,  a  great  point  to  be  arrived  at  is  to  get  the 
working  quality  well  trained.  When  that  is  done,  the 
race  will  be  found  comparatively  easy.  We  must  repeat 
and  again  repeat;  facility  will  come  with  labor.  Not 
even  the  simplest  art  can  be  accomplished  without  it; 
and  what  difficulties  it  is  found  capable  of  achieving  !  It 
was  by  early  discipline  and  repetition  that  the  late  Sir 
Robert  Peel  cultivated  those  remarkable,  though  still 
fliodiocre  powers,  which  rendered  him  so  illustrious  an 
ornament  of  the  British  senate.  When  a  boy  at  Dray- 
ton  Manor,  his  father  was  accustomed  to  set  him  up  at 
table  to  practise  extemporaneous  speaking ;  and  he  early 
accustomed  him  to  repeat  as  much  of  the  Sunday's  ser- 
mon as  he  could  carry  away  in  his  memory.  Little 
progress  was  made  at  first,  but  by  steady  perseverance 
the  habit  of  attention  soon  became  powerful,  and  the  ser- 
mon was  at  length  repeated  almost  verbatim.  When 
afterwards  replying  in  succession  to  the  arguments  of  his 
parliamentary  opponents,  —  an  art  in  which  he  was  per- 
haps unrivalled,  —  it  was  little  surmised  that  the  extraor- 
dinary power  of  accurate  remembrance  which  he  dis- 
played on  such  occasions  had  been  originally  diligently 
trained  under  the  discipline  of  his  father  in  the  parish 
church  of  Drayton. 

It  is  indeed  marvellous  what  continuous  application  will 
effect  in  the  commonest  of  things.  It  may  seem  a  simple 
affair  to  play  upon  a  violin  ;  yet  what  a  long  and  labori- 
ous practice  it  requires  !  Giardini  said  to  a  youth  who 
asked  him  how  long  it  would  take  to  learn  it,  "  Twelve 
hours  a  day  for  twenty  years  together."  Industry,  it  is 
said,  fait  Vours  danser.  The  poor  figurante  must  devote 
4 


74  CHEERFULNESS.  CHAP.  III. 

years  of  incessant  toil  too  her  profitless  task  before  she 
can  shine  in  it.  When  Taglioni  was  preparing  herself 
for  her  evening  exhibition,  she  would,  after  a  severe  two 
hours'  lesson  from  her  father,  fall  down  exhausted,  and 
had  to  be  undressed,  spunged,  and  resuscitated,  totally  un- 
conscious. The  agility  and  bounds  of  the  evening  were 
insured  only  at  a  price  like  this.  The  enormous  pre- 
paratory training  and  labor  undergone  by  these  "  ar- 
tists" is  enough  to  shame  the  indolent  and  the  supine 
engaged  in  more  worthy  pursuits.  Less  than  half  of 
such  application  devoted  to  self-culture  or  to  self-improve- 
ment of  any  kind,  could  scarcely  fail  in  insuring  success 
and  leading  to  distinction. 

Progress,  however,  of  the  best  kind,  is  comparatively 
slow.  Great  results  cannot  be  achieved  at  once ;  and 
we  must  be  satisfied  to  advance  in  life  as  we  walk,  step 
by  step.  De  Maistre  says  that  "  to  know  how  to  wait  is 
the  great  secret  of  success."  We  must  sow  before  we 
can  reap,  and  often  have  to  wait  long,  content  meanwhile 
to  look  patiently  forward  in  hope ;  the  fruit  best  worth 
waiting  for  often  ripening  the  slowest.  But  "  time  and 
patience,"  says  the  Eastern  proverb,  "  change  the  mul- 
berry leaf  to  satin." 

To  wait  patiently,  however,  men  must  work  cheerfully. 
Cheerfulness  is  an  excellent  working  quality,  imparting 
great  elasticity  to  the  character.  As  a  bishop  has  said, 
"  Temper  is  nine  tenths  of  Christianity  ; "  so  are  cheer- 
fulness and  diligence  nine  tenths  of  practical  wisdom. 
They  are  the  life  and  soul  of  success,  as  well  as  of  happi- 
ness ;  perhaps  the  very  highest  pleasure  in  life  consisting 
in  clear,  brisk,  conscious  working ;  energy,  confidence, 
and  every  other  good  quality  mainly  depending  upon  it. 
Sydney  Smith,  when  laboring  as  a  parish  priest  at  Foston- 


CHAP.  in.  HOPE.  75 

le-Clay,  in  Yorkshire,  —  though  he  did  not  feel  himself 
to  be  in  his  proper  element,  —  went  cheerfully  to  work  in 
the  firm  determination  to  do  his  best.  "  I  am  resolved," 
he  said,  "  to  like  it,  and  reconcile  myself  to  it,  which  is 
more  manly  than  to  feign  myself  above  it,  and  to  send  up 
complaints  by  the  post  of  being  thrown  away,  and  being 
desolate,  and  such  like  trash."  So  Dr.  Hook,  when 
leaving  Leeds  for  a  new  sphere  of  labor,  said,  "  Wher- 
ever I  may  be,  I  shall,  by  God's  blessing,  do  with  my 
might  what  my  hand  findeth  to  do  ;  and  if  I  do  not  find 
work,  I  shall  make  it." 

Laborers  for  the  public  good  especially,  have  to  work 
long  and  patiently,  often  uncheered  by  the  prospect  of 
immediate  recompense  or  result.  The  seeds  they  sow 
sometimes  lie  hidden  under  the  winter's  snow,  and  before 
the  spring  comes  the  husbandman  may  have  gone  to  his 
rest.  It  is  not  every  public  worker  who,  like  Rowland 
Hill,  sees  his  great  idea  bring  forth  fruit  in  his  lifetime. 
Adam  Smith  sowed  the  seeds  of  a  great  social  ameliora- 
tion in  that  dingy  old  University  of  Glasgow,  where 
he  so  long  labored,  there  laying  the  foundations  of  his 
"  Wealth  of  Nations  ;  "  and  seventy  years  passed  before 
his  work  bore  substantial  fruits,  nor  indeed  are  they  all 
gathered  in  yet. 

Nothing  can  compensate  for  the  loss  of  hope  in  a  man, 

—  it  entirely  changes  the  character.     "  How  can  I  work, 

—  how  can  I  be    happy,"  said   a  great  but  miserable 
thinker,  "  when  I  have  lost  all  hope  ?  "     Hope  is  like  the 
sun,  which,  is  we  journey  towards  it,  casts  the  shadow  of 
our  burden  behind  us.     One  of  the  most  cheerful  and 
courageous,  because  one  of  the  most  hopeful  of  workers, 
was  Carey,  the  missionary.     When  in  India,  it  was  no 
uncommon  thing  for  him  to  weary  out  three  pundits,  who 


76  DR.  YOUNG.  CHAP.  Ill 

officiated  as  his  clerks,  in  one  day,  he  himself  taking  rest 
only  in  change  of  employment.  Carey,  himself  the  son 
of  a  shoemaker,  was  supported  in  his  labors  by  Ward, 
the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  Marshmau,  the  son  of  a 
weaver.  By  their  labors,  a  magnificent  college  was 
erected  at  Serampore ;  sixteen  flourishing  stations  were 
established ;  the  Bible  was  translated  into  sixteen  lan- 
guages, and  the  seeds  were  sown  of  a  beneficent  moral 
revolution  in  British  India.  Carey  was  never  ashamed 
of  the  humbleness  of  his  origin.  On  one  occasion,  when 
at  the  Governor- General's  table,  he  overheard  an  officer 
opposite  him  asking  another,  loud  enough  to  be  heard, 
whether  Carey  had  not  once  been  a  shoemaker:  "No, 
sir,"  exclaimed  Carey  immediately,  "  only  a  cobbler."  An 
eminently  characteristic  anecdote  has  been  told  of  his  per- 
severance as  a  boy.  When  climbing  a  tree,  one  day,  his 
foot  slipped,  and  he  fell  to  the  ground,  breaking  his  leg  by 
the  fall.  He  was  confined  to  his  bed  for  weeks,  but 
when  his  strength  had  grown  again  and  he  was  able  to 
walk  without  support,  the  very  first  thing  he  did  was  to 
go  and  climb  that  tree.  Carey  had  need  of  this  sort  of 
dauntless  courage  for  the  great  missionary  work  of  his 
life,  and  nobly  and  resolutely  did  he  do  it. 

It  was  a  maxim  of  Dr.  Young,  the  philosopher,  that 
"  Any  man  can  do  what  any  other  man  has  done  ; "  and 
it  is  unquestionable  that  he  himself  never  recoiled  from 
any  trials  to  which  he  determined  to  subject  himself.  It 
is  related  of  him,  that  the  first  time  he  mounted  a  horse, 
he  was  in  company  with  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Barclay,  of 
Ury,  the  well-known  sportsman,  when  the  horseman  who 
preceded  them  leapt  a  high  fence.  Young  wished  to 
imitate  him,  but  fell  off"  his  horse  in  the  attempt.  With- 
out saying  a  word,  he  remounted,  made  a  second  effort, 


CHAP.  III.        AUDUB  3N,  THE  OKNITHOLOGIST.  77 

and  was  again  unsuccessful,  but  this  time  he  was  not 
thrown  further  than  on  to  the  horse's  neck,  to  which  he 
clung.  At  the  third  trial,  he  succeeded,  and  cleared  the 
fence. 

The  story  of  Timour  the  Tartar,  learning  a  lesson  of 
perseverance  under  adversity  from  the  spider,  is  well 
known,  and  need  not  be  repeated ;  but  not  less  interesting 
is  the  following  anecdote  of  Audubon,  the  American  or- 
nithologist, related  by  himself:  "An  accident,"  he  says, 
"  which  happened  to  two  hundred  of  my  original  draw- 
ings, nearly  put  a  stop  to  my  researches  in  ornithology. 
I  shall  relate  it,  merely  to  show  how  far  enthusiasm  — 
for  by  no  other  name  can  I  call  my  perseverance  —  may 
enable  the  preserver  of  nature  to  surmount  the  most  dis- 
heartening difficulties.  I  left  the  village  of  Henderson, 
in  Kentucky,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  where  I 
resided  for  several  years,  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  on 
business.  I  looked  to  my  drawings  before  my  departure, 
placed  them  carefully  in  a  wooden  box,  and  gave  them  in 
charge  of  a  relative,  with  injunctions  to  see  that  no  in- 
jury should  happen  to  them.  My  absence  was  of  several 
months ;  and  when  I  returned,  after  having  enjoyed  the 
pleasures  of  home  for  a  few  days,  I  inquired  after  my  box, 
and  what  I  was  pleased  to  call  my  treasure.  The  box 
was  produced  and  opened  ;  but,  reader,  feel  for  me,  —  a 
pair  of  Norway  rats  had  taken  possession  of  the  whole, 
and  reared  a  young  family  among  the  gnawed  bits  of 
paper,  which,  but  a  month  previous,  represented  nearly 
a  thousand  inhabitants  of  air !  The  burning  heat  which 
instantly  rushed  through  my  brain  was  too  great  to  be  en- 
dured without  affecting  my  whole  nervous  system.  I  slept 
for  several  nights,  and  the  days  passed  like  days  of  obliv- 
ion, —  until  the  animal  powers  being  recalled  into  action, 


78  THOMAS  CARLYLE.  CHAP.  IIL 

through  the  strength  of  my  constitution,  I  took  up  my 
gun,  my  note-book,  and  my  pencils,  and  went  forth  to  the 
woods  as  gayly  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  I  felt  pleased 
that  I  might  now  make  better  drawings  than  before  ;  and, 
ere  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years  had  elapsed,  my 
portfolio  was  again  filled." 

The  accidental  destruction  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  papers, 
by  his  little  dog  "Diamond"  upsetting  a  lighted  taper  upon 
his  desk,  by  which  the  elaborate  calculations  of  many  years 
were  in  a  moment  destroyed,  is  a  well-known  anecdote, 
and  need  not  here  be  repeated  :  it  is  said  that  the  loss 
caused  the  philosopher  such  profound  grief  that  it  seriously 
injured  his  health,  and  impaired  his  understanding.  An 
accident  of  a  somewhat  similar  kind  happened  to  the  MS. 
of  Mr.  Carlyle's  first  volume  of  his  "  French  Revolution  " 
He  had  lent  the  MS.  to  a  literary  neighbor  to  peruse. 
By  some  mischance  or  other,  it  had  been  left  lying  on  the 
parlor  floor,  and  become  forgotten.  Weeks  ran  on,  and 
the  historian  sent  for  his  MS.,  the  printers  being  loud  for 
"  copy."  Inquiries  were  made,  and  then  it  was  found  that 
the  maid-of-all-work,  finding  what  she  conceived  to  be 
a  bundle  of  waste  paper  on  the  floor,  had  used  it  to  light 
the  kitchen  and  parlor  fires  with  !  Such  was  the  answer 
returned  to  Mr.  Carlyle ;  and  his  consternation  and  despair 
may  be  imagined.  There  was,  however,  no  help  for  him 
but  to  set  himself  resolutely  to  work  to  rewrite  his  book  ; 
and  he  turned  to  and  did  it.  He  had  no  draft,  and  was 
compelled  to  rake  up  from  his  memory  facts,  ideas,  and 
expressions,  which  had  long  since  been  dismissed.  The 
composition  of  the  book  in  the  first  instance  had  been  a 
work  of  real  pleasure  ;  the  rewriting  of  it  a  second  time 
was  one  of  pain  and  anguish  almost  beyond  belief.  That 
he  persevered  and  finished  the  volume  under  such  circum 


•?HAF.  III.          THE  CUNEIFORM  CHARACTER.  79 

itances,  afford*  an  instance  of  determination  of  purpose 
which  has  seldom  been  exceeded. 

The  lives  of  all  eminent  inventors  are  eminently  illus- 
trative of  the  same  quality  of  perseverance.  George 
Stephenson,  when  addressing  young  men,  was  accus- 
tomed to  sum  up  his  best  advice  to  them  in  the  words, 
"  Do  as  I  have  done  —  persevere."  He  had  worked 
at  the  improvement  of  his  locomotive  for  some  fifteen 
years  before  achieving  his  decisive  victory  at  Rainhill; 
and  Watt  was  engaged  for  some  thirty  years  upon  the 
condensing  engine  before  he  brought  it  to  perfection.  But 
there  are  equally  striking  illustrations  of  perseverance  to 
be  found  in  every  other  branch  of  science,  art,  and  indus- 
try. Perhaps  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  that  con- 
nected with  the  disentombment  of  the  Nineveh  marbles, 
and  the  discovery  of  the  long-lost  cuneiform  or  arrow- 
headed  character,  in  which  the  inscriptions  on  them  are 
written,  —  a  kind  of  writing  which  had  been  lost  to  the 
world  since  the  period  of  the  Macedonian  conquest  of 
Persia. 

An  intelligent  cadet  of  the  East  India  Company,  sta- 
tioned at  Kermanshah,  in  Persia,  had  observed  the  curi- 
ous cuneiform  inscriptions  on  the  old  monuments  in  the 
neighborhood,  —  so  old  that  all  historical  traces  of  them 
had  been  lost,  —  and  amongst  the  inscriptions  which  he 
copied  was  that  upon  the  celebrated  rock  of  Behistun,  — 
a  perpendicular  rock  rising  abruptly  some  1 ,700  feet  from 
the  plain,  the  lower  part  bearing  inscriptions  for  the  space 
of  about  three  hundred  feet,  in  three  languages,  —  the 
Persian,  Scythian,  and  Assyrian.  Comparison  of  the 
known  with  the  unknown,  of  the  language  which  survived 
with  the  language  that  had  been  lost,  enabled  this  cadet 
to  acquire  some  knowledge  of  the  cuneiform  character 


80  AUSTEN  LAYARD.  CHAP.  III. 

and  even  to  form  an  alphabet.  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir 
Henry)  Rawlinson  sent  his  tracings  home  for  examina- 
tion. No  professors  in  colleges  knew  anything  about  the 
cuneiform  character ;  but  there  was  a  ci-devant  clerk  of 
the  East  India  House,  —  a  modest  unknown  man  of  the 
name  of  Norris,  —  who  had  made  this  little-understood 
subject  his  study,  to  whom  the  tracings  were  submitted ; 
and  so  accurate  was  his  knowledge,  that,  though  he  had 
never  seen  the  Behistun  rock,  he  pronounced  that  Raw- 
linson had  not  copied  the  puzzling  inscription  with  proper 
exactness.  Rawlinson,  who  was  still  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  rock,  compared  his  copy  with  the  original,  and 
found  that  Norris  was  right ;  and  by  further  comparison 
and  careful  study  the  knowledge  of  the  cuneiform  writing 
was  thus  greatly  advanced. 

But  to  make  the  learning  of  these  two  self-taught  men 
of  avail,  a  third  laborer  was  necessary  in  order  to  supply 
them  with  material  for  the  exercise  of  their  skill.  Such 
a  laborer  presented  himself  in  the  person  of  Austen  Lay- 
ard,  originally  an  articled  clerk  in  the  office  of  a  London 
solicitor.  One  would  scarcely  have  expected  to  find  in 
these  three  men,  a  cadet,  an  India  House  clerk,  and  a 
lawyer's  clerk,  the  discoverers  of  a  forgotten  language, 
and  of  the  buried  history  of  Babylon ;  and  yet  it  was  so. 
Layard  was  a  youth  of  only  twenty-two,  travelling  in 
the  East,  when  he  was  possessed  with  a  desire  to  pene- 
trate the  regions  beyond  the  Euphrates.  Accompanied 
by  a  single  companion,  trusting  to  his  arms  for  protection, 
and,  what  was  better,  to  his  cheerfulness,  politeness,  and 
chivalrous  bearing,  he  passed  safely  amidst  tribes  at 
deadly  war  with  each  other ;  and,  after  the  lapse  of  many 
years,  with  comparatively  slender  means  at  his  command, 
but  aided  by  intense  labor  and  perseverance,  resolute  will 


CHAP.  in.  SIR  WALTER  SCOTT.  81 

and  purpose,  and  almost  sublime  patience,  borne  up 
throughout  by  his  passionate  enthusiasm  for  discovery 
and  research,  lie  succeeded  in  laying  bare  and  digging 
up  an  amount  of  historical  treasures,  the  like  of  which 
has  probably  never  before  been  collected  by  the  industry 
of  any  one  man.  Not  less  than  two  miles  of  bas-reliefs 
were  thus  brought  to  light  by  Mr.  Layard.  The  selec- 
tions of  these  valuable  antiquities  now  placed  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  were  found  so  curiously  corroborative  of  the 
Scriptural  records  of  events  which  occurred  some  three 
thousand  years  ago,  that  they  burst  upon  the  world  almost 
like  a  new  revelation.  And  the  story  of  the  disentomb- 
ment  of  these  remarkable  works,  as  told  by  Mr.  Layard 
himself  in  his  "  Monuments  of  Nineveh,"  will  always  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  charming  and  unaffected 
records  which  we  possess  of  individual  enterprise,  indus- 
try, and  energy. 

Literary  life  affords  abundant  illustrations  of  the  same 
power  of  perseverance ;  and  perhaps  no  career  is  more 
instructive,  viewed  in  this  light,  than  that  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott.  His  admirable  working  qualities  were  trained  in 
a  lawyer's  office,  where  he  pursued  for  many  years  a 
routine  of  drudgery  scarcely  above  that  of  a  mere  copy- 
ing clerk.  His  daily  dry  routine  made  his  evenings, 
which  were  his  own,  all  the  more  sweet ;  and  he  gener- 
ally devoted  them  to  reading  and  study.  He  himself 
attributed  to  his  prosaic  office  discipline  that  habit  of 
steady,  sober  diligence,  in  which  mere  literary  men  are 
so  often  found  wanting.  As  a  copying  clerk  he  was  al- 
lowed 3d.  for  every  page  containing  a  certain  number  of 
words  ;  and  he  sometimes,  by  extra  work,  was  able  to 
copy  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  twenty  pages  in  twen- 
ty-four hours,  thus  earning  some  30s. ;  out  of  which  he 
4* 


82  SIB  WALTER  SCOTT.  CHAP.  IIL 

would  sometimes  purchase  an  odd  volume  otherwise 
beyond  his  means.  During  his  after-life  Scott  was  wont 
to  pride  himself  upon  being  a  man  of  business,  and  he 
averred,  in  contradiction  to  what  he  called  the  cant  of 
sonneteers,  that  there  was  no  necessary  connection  be- 
tween genius  and  an  aversion  or  contempt  for  the  com- 
mon duties  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  of  opinion 
that  to  spend  some  fair  portion  of  every  day  in  any  mat- 
ter-of-fact occupation,  was  good  for  the  higher  faculties 
themselves  in  the  upshot.  While  afterwards  acting  as 
clerk  to  the  Court  of  Session  in  Edinburgh,  he  performed 
his  literary  work  chiefly  before  breakfast,  attending  the 
court  during  the  day,  where  he  was  occupied  in  ordinary 
drudgery,  such  as  authenticating  registered  deeds  and 
writings  of  various  kinds  ;  on  the  whole,  says  Lockhart, 
"  it  forms  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  in  his  his- 
tory, that  throughout  the  most  active  period  of  his  literary 
career,  he  must  have  devoted  a  large  proportion  of  his 
hours,  during  half  at  least  of  every  year,  to  the  conscien- 
tious discharge  of  professional  duties."  It  was  a  prin- 
ciple of  action  which  he  laid  down  for  himself,  that  he 
must  earn  his  living  by  business,  and  not  by  literature ; 
he  said,  "  I  determined  that  literature  should  be  my  staff, 
not  my  crutch,  and  that  the  profits  of  my  literary  labor, 
however  convenient  otherwise,  should  not,  if  I  could  help 
it,  become  necessary  to  my  ordinary  expenses." 

His  punctuality  was  one  of  the  most  carefully  culti- 
vated of  his  habits,  otherwise  it  had  not  been  possible  for 
him  to  get  through  so  enormous  an  amount  of  literary 
labor.  He  made  it  a  rule  to  answer  every  letter  received 
by  him,  on  the  same  day,  except  where  inquiry  and  de- 
liberation were  requisite.  Nothing  else  could  have  ena- 
bled him  to  keep  abreast  with  the  flood  of  communications 


CHAP.  HI.  SIR  W ALTER  SCOTT.  83 

that  poured  in  upon  him  and  put  his  good  nature  to  the 
severest  test.  It  was  his  practice  to  rise  by  five  o  clock, 
and  light  his  own  fire.  He  shaved  and  dressed  with 
deliberation,  and  was  seated  at  his  desk  by  six  o'clock, 
all  his  papers  arranged  before  him  in  the  most  accurate 
order,  with  his  books  of  reference  marshalled  round  him 
on  the  floor,  while  at  least  one  favorite  dog  lay  watching 
his  eye,  outside  the  line  of  books.  Thus  by  the  time  the 
family  assembled  for  breakfast,  between  nine  and  ten,  he 
had  done  enough  —  to  use  his  own  words  —  to  break 
the  neck  of  the  day's  work.  But  with  all  his  diligent 
and  indefatigable  industry,  and  his  immense  knowledge, 
the  result  of  many  years'  patient  labor,  Scott  always 
spoke  with  the  greatest  modesty  of  his  own  powers.  On 
one  occasion  he  said,  "  Throughout  every  part  of  my 
career  I  have  felt  pinched  and  hampered  by  my  own 
ignorance." 

Such  is  true  wisdom  and  humility ;  for  the  more  a  man 
really  knows,  the  less  conceited  will  he  be.  The  student 
at  Trinity  College  who  went  up  to  his  professor  to  take 
leave  of  him  because  he  had  "  finished  his  education," 
was  wisely  rebuked  by  the  professor's  reply,  "  Indeed  !  I 
am  only  beginning  mine."  The  superficial  person  who 
has  obtained  a  smattering  of  many  things,  but  knows 
nothing  well,  may  pride  himself  upon  his  gifts ;  but  the 
sage  humbly  confesses  that  "all  he  knows  is,  that  he 
knows  nothing,"  or  like  Newton,  that  he  has  been  only 
engaged  in  picking  shells  by  the  sea-shore,  while  the 
great  ocean  of  truth  extends  itself  all  unexplored  before 
him. 

The  lives  of  second-rate  literary  men  furnish  equally 
remarkable  illustrations  of  the  power  of  perseverance. 
The  late  John  Britton,  author  of  "  The  Beauties  of  Eng- 


84  JOHN  BRITTON.  CHAP.  IIL 

land  and  Wales,"  and  of  many  valuable  architectural 
works,  furnished  a  striking  instance  of  well-directed  ap- 
plication. He  was  born  in  a  miserable  cot  in  Kingston, 
Wiltshire.  His  father  had  been  a  baker  and  maltster 
but  was  ruined  in  trade,  and  became  insane,  while  Britton 
was  yet  a  child.  The  boy  received  very  little  schooling, 
but  a  great  deal  of  bad  example,  which  happily  did  not 
destroy  him.  He  was  early  in  life  set  to  labor  with  an 
uncle,  a  tavern-keeper  in  Clerkenwell,  under  whom  he 
bottled,  corked,  and  binned  wine,  for  more  than  five  years. 
His  health  failing  him,  his  uncle  turned  him  adrift  in  the 
world,  with  only  two  guineas,  the  fruits  of  his  five  years' 
service,  in  his  pocket.  During  the  next  seven  years  of  his 
life  he  endured  many  vicissitudes  and  hardships.  Yet  he 
says,  in  his  autobiography,  "  in  my  poor  and  obscure 
lodgings,  at  eighteen  pence  a  week,  I  indulged  in  study, 
and  often  read  in  bed  during  the  winter  evenings,  because 
I  could  not  afford  a  fire."  Travelling  on  foot  to  Bath,  he 
there  obtained  an  engagement  as  a  cellar-man,  but  shortly 
after  we  find  him  back  in  the  metropolis  again,  almost 
penniless,  shoeless,  and  shirtless.  He  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  obtaining  employment  as  a  cellar-man  at  the 
London  Tavern,  and  it  was  his  duty  to  be  in  the  cellar 
from  seven  in  the  morning  until  eleven  at  night.  His 
health  broke  down  under  this  confinement  in  the  dark, 
added  to  the  heavy  work ;  and  he  then  engaged  himself, 
at  fifteen  shillings  a  week,  to  an  attorney,  —  for  he  had 
been  diligently  cultivating  the  art  of  writing  during  the 
few  spare  minutes  that  he  could  call  his  own.  While  in 
this  employment,  he  devoted  his  leisure  principally  to 
perambulating  the  bookstalls,  where  he  read  books  by 
snatches  which  he  could  not  buy,  and  thus  picked  up  a 
good  deal  of  odd  knowledge.  Then  he  shifted  to  another 


CHAP.  III.    LOUDON,  THE  LANDSCAPE   GAEDENER.          85 

office,  at  the  advanced  wages  of  twenty  shillings  a  week, 
still  reading  and  studying.  At  twenty-eight  he  was  able 
to  write  a  book,  which  he  published  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Enterprising  Adventures  of  Pizarro ; "  and  from 
that  time  until  quite  recently,  during  a  period  of  about 
fifty-five  years,  Britton  was  occupied  in  laborious  literary 
occupation,  chiefly  connected  with  English  antiquities. 
The  number  of  his  published  works  is  not  fewer  than 
eighty-seven  ;  the  most  important  being  "  The  Cathedral 
Antiquities  of  England,"  in  fourteen  volumes,  a  truly 
magnificent  work;  itself  the  best  monument  of  John 
Britton's  indefatigable  industry. 

Loudon,  the  landscape  gardener,  was  a  man  of  some- 
what similar  character,  possessed  of  an  extraordinary 
working-power.  The  son  of  a  farmer  near  Edinburgh, 
he  was  early  inured  to  work.  His  skill  in  drawing  plans 
and  making  sketches  of  scenery  induced  his  father  to  train 
him  for  a  landscape  gardener.  During  his  apprenticeship 
he  sat  up  two  whole  nights  every  week  to  study ;  yet  he 
worked  harder  during  the  day  than  any  laborer.  During 
his  studious  hours  he  learned  French,  and  before  he  was 
eighteen  translated  a  life  of  Abelard  for  an  Encyclopaedia. 
He  was  so  eager  to  make  progress  in  life,  that  when  only 
twenty,  while  working  as  a  gardener  in  England,  he 
wrote  down  in  his  note-book,  "  I  am  now  twenty  years  of 
age,  and  perhaps  a  third  part  of  my  life  has  passed  away, 
and  yet  what  have  I  done  to  benefit  my  fellow-men  ?  " 
an  unusual  reflection  for  a  youth  of  only  twenty.  From 
French  he  proceeded  to  learn  German,  and  rapidly  mas- 
tered that  language.  He  now  took  a  large  farm  for  the 
purpose  of  introducing  Scotch  improvements  in  the  art 
of  agriculture,  and  soon  succeeded  in  realizing  a  consider- 
able income.  The  continent  being  thrown  open  on  the 
cessation  of  the  war,  he  proceeded  to  travel  for  the  pur- 


86  SAMUEL  DREW.  CHAP.  III. 

pose  of  observation,  making  sketches  of  the  system  of 
gardening  in  all  countries,  which  he  afterwards  intro- 
duced in  the  historical  part  of  his  laborious  Encyclopaedia 
of  Gardening.  He  twice  repeated  his  journeys  abroad 
for  a  similar  purpose,  the  result  of  which  appeared  in  his 
Encyclopedias  ;  perhaps  amongst  the  most  remarkable 
works  of  their  kind,  distinguished  for  the  immense  mass 
of  useful  matter  which  they  contain,  all  collected  by  dint 
of  persevering  industry  and  labor,  such  as  has  rarely 
been  equalled. 

The  career  of  Samuel  Drew  is  perhaps  less  known,  but 
is  no  less  remarkable  than  any  of  those  which  we  have 
cited.  His  father  was  a  hard-working  laborer  of  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Austell,  in  Cornwall.  Though  poor,  be  con- 
trived to  send  his  two  sons  to  a  penny-a-week  school  in 
the  neighborhood.  Jabez,  the  elder,  took  delight  in  learn- 
ing, and  made  great  progress  in  his  lessons  ;  but  Samuel, 
the  younger,  was  a  dunce,  notoriously  given  to  mischief 
and  playing  truant.  Hence  it  was  principally  to  his 
mother  that  he  was  indebted  for  nearly  all  the  reading 
and  writing  that  he  learned  in  youth.  When  about  eight 
years  old  he  was  put  to  manual  labor,  earning  three  half- 
pence a  day  as  a  buddle  boy  at  a  tin  mine. 

His  mother  having  died,  the  boy  was  allowed  to  grow 
up  altogether  neglected  by  his  father,  who,  being  a  Wes- 
ley an  local  preacher,  was  so  much  occupied  by  his  class 
engagements  that  he  had  no  time  to  devote  to  the  training 
of  his  own  children.  When  about  ten  years  old,  the  boy 
was  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker,  and  while  in  this  em- 
ployment he  endured  many  hardships,  living,  as  he  used 
to  say,  "  like  a  toad  under  a  harrow."  He  often  thought 
of  running  away  and  becoming  a  pirate,  or  something  of 
that  sort,  and  he  seems  to  have  grown  in  recklessness  as 


CHAP.  III.  SAMUEL  DREW,  —  SMUGGLER.  87 

he  grew  in  years.  In  robbing  orchards  he  was  always  a 
leader  ;  and,  as  he  grew  older,  his  greatest  delight  was  in 
taking  part  in  a  poaching  or  smuggling  exploit.  Whea 
about  seventeen,  before  his  apprenticeship  was  out,  he 
ran  away  from  his  home,  with  sixteen  pence  half-penny  in 
his  pocket.  His  intention  was  to  enter  on  board  a  man- 
of-war  ;  but,  sleeping  in  a  hay-field  for  the  night  cooled 
him  a  little,  and,  in  passing  through  Liskeard,  he  applied 
to  a  master  shoemaker  for  employment,  and  obtained  it. 
While  there,  his  brother,  who  was  in  search  of  him,  hear- 
ing of  the  lad's  whereabouts,  found  him  out,  and  took  him 
home  again;  then  he  was  employed  for  a  time  in  the 
ordinary  labors  of  a  small  farm,  and  in  running  the  post 
between  St.  Austell  and  Bodmin. 

Drew  next  removed  to  the  neighborhood  of  Plymouth 
to  work  at  his  shoemaking  business,  and  while  at  Caw- 
eand  he  won  a  prize  for  cudgel-playing,  in  which  he 
seems  to  have  been  an  adept.  While  living  in  this  neigh- 
borhood he  had  nearly  lost  his  life  in  one  of  the  smug- 
gling exploits  in  which  he  still  continued  eager  to  join, 
partly  induced  by  the  love  of  adventure,  and  partly  by 
the  love  of  gain,  for  his  regular  wages  were  not  more 
than  eight  shillings  a  week.  One  night  notice  was  given 
throughout  Crafthole,  that  a  smuggler  was  off  the  coast, 
and  ready  to  land  her  cargo ;  on  which  the  male  popula- 
tion of  the  place  —  nearly  all  smugglers  —  made  for  the 
shore.  One  party  remained  on  the  rocks  to  make  signals, 
and  dispose  of  the  goods  as  they  were  landed ;  and  an- 
other manned  the  boats,  Samuel  Drew  being  of  the  latter 
party.  The  night  was  intensely  dark,  and  but  little  prog- 
ress had  been  made  in  landing  the  vessel's  cargo,  when 
the  wind  rose,  with  a  heavy  sea.  The  men  in  the  boats, 
however,  determined  to  persevere,  and  several  trips  were 


88  SAMUEL  DREW,  —  SHOEMAKER.         CHAP.  III. 

made  between  the  smuggler,  now  standing  farther  out  to 
sea,  and  the  shore.  One  of  the  men  in  the  boat  in  which 
Drew  was,  had  his  hat  blown  off  by  the  wind,  and  in 
attemptiag  to  recover  it,  the  boat  was  upset.  Three  of 
the  men  were  immediately  drowned,  and  Samuel  and  two 
or  three  others  clung  to  the  boat  for  a  time,  but  finding  it 
drifting  fast  out  to  sea,  they  took  to  swimming.  They 
were  about  two  miles  from  shore,  in  an  intensely  dark 
night.  After  being  about  three  hours  in  the  water,  Drew 
reached  some  rocks  near  the  shore,  with  one  or  two 
others,  where  he  remained  benumbed  with  cold  till  morn- 
ing, when  he  and  his  companions  were  discovered  and 
taken  off,  more  dead  than  alive.  A  keg  of  brandy  from 
the  cargo  just  landed  was  brought,  the  head  knocked  in 
with  a  hatchet,  and  a  bowlful  of  the  liquid  presented  to 
the  survivors  ;  and,  shortly  after,  Drew  was  able  to  walk 
two  miles  through  the  deep  snow,  to  his  lodgings. 

This  was  a  very  unpromising  beginning  of  a  life,  and 
yet  this  same  Drew,  scape-grace,  orchard-robber,  shoe- 
maker, cudgel-player,  and  smuggler,  outlived  the  reck- 
lessness of  his  youth,  and  became  distinguished  as  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  and  a  writer  of  good  books. 
Happily,  before  it  was  too  late,  the  energy  which  char- 
acterized him  was  turned  into  wholesome  directions,  and 
rendered  him  as  eminent  in  usefulness  as  he  had  before 
been  in  wickedness.  His  father  again  took  him  back  to 
St.  Austell,  and  found  employment  for  him  as  a  journey- 
man shoemaker.  Perhaps  his  recent  escape  from  death 
had  tended  to  make  the  young  man  serious,  and  we 
shortly  find  him,  attracted  by  the  forcible  preaching  of 
Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  become  a  member  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists.  His  brother  having  died  about  the  same 
time,  the  impression  of  seriousness  was  deepened ;  and 


CHAP,  III.  SAMUEL  DEEW,  —  STUDENT.  89 

thenceforward  he  was  an  altered  man.  He  recommenced 
the  work  of  education,  for  he  had  almost  forgotten  how  to 
read  and  write  ;  and  even  after  several  years'  practice,  a 
friend  compared  his  writing  to  the  traces  of  a  spider 
dipped  in  ink,  and  set  to  crawl  upon  paper.  Speaking 
of  himself,  about  the  same  time,  Drew  afterwards  said, 
"  The  more  I  read,  the  more  I  felt  my  own  ignorance ; 
and  the  more  I  felt  my  ignorance,  the  more  invincible 
became  my  energy  to  surmount  it.  Every  leisure  mo- 
ment was  now  employed  in  reading  one  thing  or  another. 
Having  to  support  myself  by  manual  labor,  my  time  for 
reading  was  but  little,  and  to  overcome  this  disadvantage, 
my  usual  method  was  to  place  a  book  before  me  while  at 
meat,  and  at  every  repast  I  read  five  or  six  pages."  The 
perusal  of  Locke's  "  Essay  on  the  Understanding  "  gave 
the  first  metaphysical  turn  to  his  mind.  "  It  awakened 
me  from  my  stupor,"  said  he,  "  and  induced  me  to  form 
a  resolution  to  abandon  the  grovelling  views  which  I  had 
been  accustomed  to  entertain." 

Drew  now  began  business  on  his  own  account,  though 
his  whole  capital  was  only  fourteen  shillings ;  but  his 
steady  good  character  being  now  proved,  a  neighboring 
miller  volunteered  a  loan,  which  was  accepted,  and,  suc- 
cess attending  his  industry,  the  debt  was  repaid  at  the 
end  of  a  year.  He  started  in  life  with  a  determined 
resolution  to  "  owe  no  man  anything,"  and  he  held  to  it 
in  the  midst  of  many  privations.  Often  he  went  to  bed 
eupperless,  to  avoid  rising  in  debt.  His  ambition  was  to 
achieve  independence  by  industry  and  rigid  economy,  and 
in  this  he  gradually  succeeded.  In  the  midst  of  incessant 
toil,  he  labored  to  carry  forward  the  cultivation  of  his 
mind,  studying  even  astronomy,  history,  and  metaphysics. 
He  was  induced  to  pursue  the  latter  study  chiefly  be- 


90  SAMUEL  DREW,  —  POLITICIAN.          CHAP.  III. 

cause  it  required  fewer  books  to  consult  than  either  of 
the  others.  "  It  appeared  to  be  a  thorny  path,"  he  said, 
"but  I  determined,  nevertheless,  to  enter,  and  accord- 
ingly began  to  tread  it." 

Added  to  his  labors  in  shoemaking  and  metaphysics, 
Drew  became  a  local  preacher  and  a  class  leader  ;  over 
flowing  with  activity  he  also  entered  eagerly  into  the 
discussion  of  politics,  and  he  even  ran  some  risk  of  be- 
coming a  gad-about  and  busybody.  Politicians  resorted  to 
his  shoemaking  shop  to  talk  politics,  and  he  went  to  theirs 
for  a  similar  purpose.  This  so  encroached  upon  his  time 
that  he  found  it  necessary  sometimes  to  work  until  mid- 
night to  make  up  for  the  hours  lost  during  the  day. 
Shoemakers  are  proverbially  political  characters,  and 
Drew's  fervor  soon  became  the  talk  of  the  village.  While 
busy  one  night  hammering  away  at  a  shoe-sole,  a  little  boy, 
seeing  a  light  in  the  shop,  put  his  mouth  to  the  keyhole 
of  the  door,  and  called  out  in  a  shrill  pipe,  "  Shoemaker ! 
shoemaker  !  work  by  night  and  run  about  by  day  ! "  A 
friend,  to  whom  Drew  afterwards  told  the  story,  asked, 
"  And  did  you  not  run  after  the  boy,  and  strap  him  ?  " 
"  No,  no,"  was  the  reply ;  "  had  a  pistol  been  fired  off  at 
my  ear,  I  could  not  have  been  more  dismayed  or  con- 
founded. I  dropped  my  work,  and  said  to  myself,  '  True, 
true !  but  you  shall  never  have  that  to  say  of  me  again.' 
To  me  that  cry  was  as  the  voice  of  God,  and  it  has  been 
a  word  in  season  throughout  my  life.  I  learnt  from  it 
not  to  leave  till  to-morrow  the  work  of  to-day,  or  to  idle 
when  I  ought  to  be  working." 

From  that  moment  Drew  dropped  politics,  and  stuck 
to  his  daily  work,  and  to  self-improvement  in  his  spare 
hours  ;  but  he  never  allowed  the  latter  to  interfere  with 
his  business*  though  it  frequently  broke  in  upon  his  rest. 


CHAP.  III.     SAMUEL  DREW,  —  METAPHYSICIAN.  91 

He  married,  and  thought  of  emigrating  to  America  ;  but 
he  remained  working  on.  His  literary  taste  first  took 
the  direction  of  poetical  composition ;  and  from  some  of 
the  fragments  which  have  been  preserved,  it  appears  that 
his  speculations  as  to  the  immateriality  and  immortality 
of  the  soul  had  their  origin  in  these  poetical  musings. 
His  study  was  the  kitchen,  where  his  wife's  bellows 
served  him  for  a  desk ;  and  he  wrote  amidst  the  cries 
and  cradlings  of  his  children.  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason  " 
having  come  out  about  this  time,  and  excited  great  in- 
terest amongst  young  readers,  he  composed  a  pamphlet  in 
refutation  of  its  arguments,  which  was  published.  He 
used  afterwards  to  say  that  it  was  the  "  Age  of  Reason  " 
that  made  him  an  author.  Various  pamphlets  from  his 
pen  now  appeared  in  rapid  succession,  and  a  few  years 
later,  whilst  still  working  on  at  shoemaking,  he  wrote 
and  published  his  admirable  "  Essay  on  the  Immaterial- 
ity and  Immortality  of  the  Human  Soul,"  which  he  sold 
for  twenty  pounds,  a  great  sum  in  his  estimation  at  the 
time.  The  book  went  through  many  editions,  and  is  still 
prized. 

He  was  in  no  wise  puffed  up  by  his  success,  as  many 
young  authors  are,  but,  long  after  he  had  become  cele- 
brated as  a  writer,  used  to  be  seen  sweeping  the  street 
before  his  door,  or  helping  his  apprentices  to  carry  in  the 
winter's  coals.  Some  one  telling  him  that  he  compro- 
mised his  dignity  by  so  doing,  he  replied,  "  The  man  who 
is  ashamed  to  carry  in  his  own  coals  deserves  to  sit  all 
the  winter  by  an  empty  grate."  Nor  could  he,  for  some 
time,  bring  himself  to  regard  literature  as  a  profession  to 
live  by.  His  first  care  was  to  secure  an  honest  liveli- 
hood by  his  business,  and  to  put  into  the  "  lottery  of  liter- 
ary success,"  as  he  termed  it,  only  the  surplus  of  his 


02  JOSEPH  HUME,  —  SURGE OTf.  CHAP.  III. 

time.  But  a  new  and  honorable  sphere  of  life  now 
opened  before  him  ;  and,  at  the  invitation  of  Dr.  Coke, 
he  entered  into  an  engagement  with  that  gentleman  to 
assist  him  in  the  arrangement  and  completion  of  certain 
works  in  which  he  was  engaged.  He  continued  an  ac- 
tive literary  career  in  connection  with  the  Wesleyan 
body,  editing  one  of  their  magazines,  and  superintending 
the  publication  of  many  of  their  denominational  works, 
writing  also  in  the  "  Eclectic  Review,"  compiling  and 
publishing  a  valuable  history  of  his  native  county,  Corn- 
wall, with  numerous  other  works.  Of  himself  he  truly 
said,  "  Raised  from  one  of  the  lowest  stations  in  society,  I 
have  endeavored  through  life  to  bring  my  family  into  a 
state  of  respectability,  by  honest  industry,  frugality,  and  a 
high  regard  for  my  moral  character.  Divine  Providence 
smiled  on  my  exertions,  and  crowned  my  wishes  with 
success." 

The  late  Joseph  Hume  pursued  a  different  career  in 
life,  but  worked  in  an  equally  conscientious  spirit.  He 
was  a  man  of  moderate  parts,  but  of  great  industry,  and 
unimpeachable  honesty  of  purpose.  The  motto  of  his 
life  was  "Perseverance,"  and  well  he  acted  up  to  it. 
His  father  dying  while  he  was  a  mere  child,  his  mother 
opened  a  small  shop  in  Montrose,  and  toiled  hard  to 
maintain  her  family  and  bring  them  up  respectably. 
Joseph  she  put  apprentice  to  a  surgeon,  and  educated  for 
the  medical  profession.  Having  got  his  diploma,  he  made 
several  voyages  to  India  as  ship's  surgeon,*  and  after- 
wards obtained  a  cadetship  in  the  Company's  service. 

*  It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Hume,  that,  during  these  profes- 
sional voyages  between  England  and  India,  he  should  diligently  apply 
his  spare  time  to  the  study  of  navigation  and  seamanship ;  and  many 
years  after,  it  proved  of  use  to  him  in  a  remarkable  manner.  In 


CHAP.  III.    JOSEPH  HUME,— MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT.    93 

None  worked  harder,  or  lived  more  temperately,  than  ho 
did ;  and,  securing  the  confidence  of  his  superiors,  who 
found  him  a  capable  man  in  the  performance  of  his  duty, 
•they  gradually  promoted  him  to  higher  rank.  In  1803 
he  was  with  the  division  of  the  army  under  General 
Powell  in  the  Mahratta  war  ;  and  the  interpreter  having 
died,  Hume,  who  had  meanwhile  studied  and  mastered 
the  native  languages,  was  appointed  to  the  office.  He 
was  also  made  chief  of  the  medical  staff.  But  as  if 
this  were  not  enough  to  occupy  his  full  working-power, 
he  undertook  in  addition  the  offices  of  paymaster  and 
postmaster,  and  satisfactorily  performed  their  duties.  He 
also  undertook  large  contracts  for  supplying  the  commis- 
sariat, which  he  conducted  with  advantage  to  the  army 
and  profit  to  himself.  After  about  ten  years'  unremitting 
labor,  he  returned  to  England  with  a  competency;  and 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  make  provision  for  the  poorer 
members  of  his  family. 

But  Joseph  Hume  was  not  a  man  idly  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  industry  ;  indeed,  work  and  occupation  were 
necessary  for  his  comfort  and  happiness.  To  make  him- 
self fully  acquainted  with  the  actual  state  of  his  own 

1825,  when  on  his  passage  from  London  to  Leith  by  a  sailing  smack, 
the  vessel  had  scarcely  cleared  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  when  a  sud- 
den storm  came  on,  she  was  driven  out  of  her  course,  and,  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  she  struck  on  the  Goodwin  Sands.  The  cap- 
tain, losing  his  presence  of  mind,  seemed  incapable  of  giving  coherent 
orders,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  vessel  would  shortly  have  become 
a  total  wreck,  had  not  one  of  the  passengers  suddenly  taken  the  com- 
mand and  directed  the  working  of  the  ship,  himself  taking  the  helm 
while  the  danger  lasted.  The  vessel  was  thus  saved,  and  the  stranger 
was  Mr.  Hume.  Mr.  Reid,  of  Banchory,  was  one  of  the  numerous 
passengers  on  board,  and  but  for  him  we  should  never  have  heard  of 
the  story,  for  Joseph  Hume  was  one  of  the  last  men  to  boast  of  his 
own  prowess. 


94  JOSEPH  HUME,  —  HIS  PERSEVERANCE.    CHAP.  HI. 

country  and  the  condition  of  the  people,  he  visited  every 
town  in  the  United  Kingdom  which  enjoyed  any  degree 
of  manufacturing  celebrity.  Afterwards  he  travelled 
abroad,  gathering  a  store  of  experience  of  men  and 
states.  Returned  to  England,  he  entered  Parliament  in 
1812,  and  continued  a  member  of  that  assembly,  with  a 
short  interruption,  for  a  period  of  about  thirty-four  years. 
His  first  recorded  speech  was  on  the  subject  of  public 
education,  and  throughout  his  long  and  honorable  career 
he  took  an  active  and  earnest  interest  in  that  and  all 
other  questions  calculated  to  elevate  and  improve  the 
condition  of  the  people,  —  criminal  reform,  savings-banks, 
free-trade,  economy  and  retrenchment,  extended  repre- 
sentation, and  such  like  measures,  all  of  which  he  inde- 
fatigably  promoted.  Whatever  subject  he  undertook,  he 
worked  at  with  all  his  might.  He  was  not  a  good  speak- 
er, but  what  he  said  was  believed  to  proceed  from  the  lips 
of  an  honest,  single-minded,  accurate  man.  If  ridicule, 
as  Shaftesbury  says,  be  the  test  of  truth,  Joseph  Hume 
stood  the  test  well.  No  man  was  more  laughed  at,  but 
there  he  stood  perpetually,  and  literally,  "  at  his  post." 
He  was  usually  beaten  on  a  division,  but  the  influence 
-which  he  exercised  was  nevertheless  deeply  felt,  and 
many  important  financial  improvements  were  effected  by 
him  even  with  the  vote  directly  against  him.  The  amount 
of  hard  work  which  he  contrived  to  get  through  was  some- 
thing extraordinary.  He  rose  at  six,  wrote  letters  and 
arranged  his  papers  for  the  House  ;  then,  after  breakfast, 
he  received  persons  on  business,  sometimes  as  many  as 
twenty  in  a  morning.  The  House  rarely  assembled  with- 
out him,  and  though  the  debate  were  prolonged  to  two  or 
three  o'clock  in  the  following  morning,  be  sure  you  would 
find  Mr.  Hume's  name  in  any  division  that  took  place- 


CHAP.  III..  JOSEPH  HUME.  <J5 

In  short,  to  perform  the  work  which  Mr.  Hume  did,  ex- 
tending over  so  long  a  period,  in  the  face  of  so  many  ad- 
ministrations, week  after  week,  year  after  year,  —  to  be 
outvoted,  beaten,  laughed  at,  standing  on  many  occasions 
almost  alone,  —  to  persevere  in  the  face  of  every  discour- 
agement, preserving  his  temper  unruffled,  never  relaxing 
in  his  energy  or  his  hope,  and  living  to  see  the  greater 
number  of  his  measures  adopted  with  acclamation,  must 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  marvellous  things  of  its 
kind  in  the  history  of  human  character. 


i>6  WILSON,  THE  LANDSCAPE  PAINTER.    CHAP.  IV 


CHAPTER   IV. 

HELPS  AND  OPPORTUNITIES  —  SCIENTIFIC  PURSUITS. 

''Neither  the  naked  hand,  nor  the  understanding,  left  to  itself,  can  do 
much ;  the  work  is  accomplished  by  instruments  and  helps,  of  which  the 
need  is  not  less  for  the  understanding  than  the  hand."  —  Bacon. 

"  Opportunity  has  hair  in  front,  behind  she  is  bald ;  if  you  seize  her  by 
the  forelock  you  may  hold  her,  but  if  suffered  to  escape,  not  Jupiter  himself 
can  catch  her  again.''  —  From  the  Latin. 

ACCIDENT  does  very  little  towards  the  production  of 
any  great  result  in  life.  Though  sometimes  what  is  called 
"  a  happy  hit "  may  be  made  by  a  bold  venture,  the  old 
and  common  highway  of  steady  industry  and  application 
is  the  only  safe  road  to  travel.  It  is  said  of  the  land- 
scape-painter Wilson,  that  when  he  had  finished  a  picture 
in  a  tame,  correct  manner,  he  would  step  back  to  some 
distance,  with  his  pencil  fixed  at  the  end  of  a  long  stick, 
and  after  gazing  earnestly  on  his  work,  he  would  suddenly 
dash  up,  and  by  a  few  bold  touches  give  a  brilliant  finish 
to  his  painting.  But  it  will  not  do  for  every  one  who 
would  produce  an  effect,  to  throw  his  brush  at  the  canvas 
in  the  hope  of  producing  a  picture.  The  capability  of 
putting  in  these  last  vital  touches  is  acquired  only  by 
the  labor  of  a  life ;  and  the  probability  is,  that  the  artist 
who  has  not  carefully  trained  himself  beforehand,  in 
attempting  to  produce  a  brilliant  effect  at  a  dash,  will 
only  produce  a  blotch. 

Sedulous   attention    and   painstaking   industry  always 


CHAP.  IV.        DISCOVERIES  NOT  ACCIDENTAL.  97 

mark  the  true  worker.  The  greatest  men  are  not  those 
who  "  despise  the  day  of  small  things,"  but  those  who 
improve  them  the  most  carefully.  Michael  Angelo  was 
one  day  explaining  to  a  visitor  at  his  studio,  what  he  had 
been  doing  at  a  statue  since  his  previous  visit.  "  I  have 
retouched  this  part,  —  polished  that,  —  softened  this  fea- 
ture, —  brought  out  that  muscle, —  given  some  expression 
to  this  lip,  and  more  energy  to  that  limb."  "  But  these 
are  trifles."  remarked  the  visitor.  "It  may  be  so,"  re- 
plied the  sculptor,  "but  recollect  that  trifles  make  per- 
fection, and  perfection  is  no  trifle."  So  it  was  said  of 
Nicholas  Poussin,  the  painter,  that  the  rule  of  his  conduct 
was,  that  "  whatever  was  worth  doing  at  all  was  worth 
doing  well ; "  and  when  asked,  late  in  life,  by  his  friend 
Vigneul  de  Marville,  by  what  means  he  had  gained  so 
high  a  reputation  among  the  painters  of  Italy,  Poussin  em- 
phatically answered,  "  Because  I  have  neglected  nothing." 
Although  there  are  discoveries  which  are  said  to  have 
been  made  by  accident,  if  carefully  inquired  into,  it  will 
be  found  that  there  has  really  been  very  little  that  was 
accidental  about  them.  For  the  most  part,  these  so-called 
accidents  have  only  been  opportunities,  carefully  im- 
proved by  genius.  The  fall  of  the  apple  at  Newton's 
feet  has  often  been  quoted  in  proof  of  the  accidental  char- 
acter of  some  discoveries.  But  Newton's  whole  mind 
had  already  been  devoted  for  years  to  the  laborious  and 
patient  investigation  of  the  subject  of  gravitation ;  and 
the  circumstance  of  the  apple  falling  before  his  eyes  was 
suddenly  apprehended  only  as  genius  could  apprehend  it, 
and  served  to  flash  upon  him  the  brilliant  discovery  then 
bursting  on  his  sight,  In  like  manner,  the  brilliantly- 
colored  soap-bubbles  blown  from  a  common  tobacco-pipe, 
—  though  "  trifles  light  as  air  "  in  most  eyes,  —  suggested 


98  INTELLIGENT  OBSERVATION.  CHAP.  IV. 

to  Dr.  Young  his  beautiful  theory  of  "  interferences,"  and 
led  to  his  discovery  relating  to  the  diffraction  of  light. 
Although  great  men  are  popularly  supposed  only  to  deal 
with  great  things,  men  such  as  Newton  and  Young  were 
ready  to  detect  the  significance  of  the  most  familiar  and 
simple  facts ;  their  greatness  consisting  mainly  in  their 
wise  interpretation  of  them. 

The  difference  between  men  consists,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure, in  the  intelligence  of  their  observation.  The  Rus- 
sian proverb  says  of  the  non-observant  man,  "  He  goes 
through  the  forest  and  sees  no  firewood."  "  The  wise 
man's  eyes  are  in  his  head,"  says  Solomon,  "  but  the  fool 
walketh  in  darkness."  "  Sir,"  said  Johnson,  on  one  occa- 
sion, to  a  fine  gentleman  just  returned  from  Italy,  "  some 
men  will  learn  more  in  the  Hampstead  stage  than  others 
in  the  tour  of  Europe."  It  is  the  mind  that  sees  as 
well  as  the  eye.  Where  unthinking  gazers  observe  noth- 
ing, men  of  intelligent  vision  penetrate  into  the  very 
fibre  of  the  phenomena  presented  to  them,  attentively 
noting  differences,  making  comparisons  and  detecting 
their  underlying  idea.  Many,  before  Galileo,  had  seen 
a  suspended  weight  swing  before  their  eyes  with  a  meas- 
ured beat ;  but  he  was  the  first  to  detect  the  value  of  the 
fact.  One  of  the  vergers  in  the  cathedral  at  Pisa,  after 
replenishing  with  oil  a  lamp  which  hung  from  the  roof; 
left  it  swinging  to  and  fro;  and  Galileo,  then  a  youth  of 
only  eighteen,  noting  it  attentively,  conceived  the  idea 
of  applying  it  to  the  measurement  of  time.  Fifty  years 
of  study  and  labor,  however,  elapsed  before  he  completed 
the  invention  of  his  Pendulum,  —  an  invention,  the  im- 
portance of  which,  in  the  measurement  of  time  and  in 
astronomical  calculations,  can  scarcely  be  overvalued.  In 
like  manner,  Galileo,  having  casually  heard  that  one 


CHAP.  IV.    SUSPENSION  BRIDGE  -THAMES  TUNNEL.         99 

Lippershey,  a  Dutch  spectacle-maker,  had  presented  to 
Count  Maurice  of  Nassau  an  instrument  by  means  of 
which  distant  objects  appeared  proximate  to  the  beholder, 
addressed  himself  to  the  cause  of  such  a  phenomenon, 
which  led  to  the  invention  of  the  telescope,  and  thus 
proved  the  commencement  of  important  astronomical  dis- 
coveries. Discoveries  such  as  these  could  never  have 
been  made  by  a  negligent  observer,  or  by  a  mere  passive 
listener. 

While  Captain  (afterwards  Sir  Samuel)  Brown  was 
occupied  in  studying  the  construction  of  bridges,  with  the 
view  of  contriving  one  of  a  cheap  description  to  be  thrown 
across  the  Tweed,  near  which  he  lived,  he  was  walking  in 
his  garden  one  dewy  autumn  morning,  when  he  saw  a 
tiny  spider's  net  suspended  across  his  path.  The  idea 
immediately  occurred  to  him,  that  a  bridge  of  iron  ropes 
or  chains  might  be  constructed  in  like  manner,  and  the 
result  was  the  invention  of  his  Suspension  Bridge.  So 
James  Watt,  when  consulted  about  the  mode  of  carrying 
water  by  pipes  under  the  Clyde,  along  the  unequal  bed 
of  the  river,  turned  his  attention  one  day  to  the  shell  of 
a  lobster  presented  at  table ;  and  from  that  model  he  in- 
vented an  iron  tube,  which,  when  laid  down,  was  found 
effectually  to  answer  the  purpose.  Sir  Isambert  Brunei 
took  his  first  lessons  in  forming  the  Thames  Tunnel  from 
the  tiny  ship  worm :  he  saw  how  the  little  creature  per- 
forated the  wood  with  its  well-armed  head,  first  in  one 
direction  and  then  in  another,  till  the  archway  was  com- 
plete, and  then  daubed  over  the  roof  and  sides  with  a 
kind  of  varnish ;  and  by  copying  this  work  exactly  on 
a  large  scale,  Brunei  was  at  length  enabled  to  accomplish 
his  great  engineering  work. 

It  is  the  intelligent  eye  of  the  careful  observer  which 


100    CLOSE  OBSERVATION  OF  LITTLE  THINGS.    CHAP.  IV 

gives  these  apparently  trivial  phenomena  their  value.  So 
trifling  a  matter  as  the  sight  of  sea-weed  floating  past  his 
ship,  enabled  Columbus  to  quell  the  mutiny  which  arose 
amongst  his  sailors  at  not  discovering  land,  and  to  assure 
them  that  the  eagerly  sought  New  World  was  not  far  off. 
There  is  nothing  so  small  that  it  should  remain  forgotten  ; 
and  no  fact,  however  trivial,  but  may  prove  useful  in  some 
way  or  other  if  carefully  interpreted.  Who  could  have 
imagined  that  the  famous  "chalk  cliffs  of  Albion"  had 
been  built  up  by  tiny  insects,  —  detected  only  by  the  help 
of  the  microscope,  —  of  the  same  order  of  creatures  that 
have  gemmed  the  sea  with  islands  of  coral !  And  who 
that  contemplates  such  extraordinary  results,  arising  from 
infinitely  minute  operations,  will  venture  to  question  the 
power  of  little  things  ? 

It  is  the  close  observation  of  little  things  which  is  the 
secret  of  success  in  business,  in  art,  in  science,  and  in 
every  pursuit  in  life.  Human  knowledge  is  but  an  accu- 
mulation of  small  facts,  made  by  successive  generations 
of  men,  the  little  bits  of  knowledge  and  experience  care- 
fully treasured  up  by  them  growing  at  length  into  a 
mighty  pyramid.  Though  many  of  these  facts  and  ob- 
servations seemed  in  the  first  instance  to  have  but  slight 
significance,  they  are  all  found  to  have  their  eventual  uses, 
and  to  fit  into  their  proper  places.  Even  many  specula- 
tions seemingly  remote,  turn  out  to  be  the  basis  of  results 
the  most  obviously  practical.  In  the  case  of  the  conic 
sections  discovered  by  Apollonius  Pergaeus,  twenty  cen- 
turies elapsed  before  they  were  made  the  basis  of  astron- 
omy, —  a  science  which  enables  the  modern  navigator  to 
steer  his  way  through  unknown  seas,  and  traces  for  him 
in  the  heavens  an  unerring  path  to  his  appointed  haven. 
And  had  not  mathematicians  toiled  for  so  long,  and,  to 


CHAP.  IV.  MIGHT  IN  LITTLE  THINGS.  101 

uninstructed  observers,  apparently  so  fruitlessly,  over  the 
abstract  relations  of  lines  and  surfaces,  it  is  probable  that 
but  few  of  our  mechanical  inventions  would  have  seen 
the  light. 

When  Franklin  made  his  discovery  of  the  identity  of 
lightning  and  electricity,  it  was  sneered  at,  and  people 
asked,  "  Of  what  use  is  it  ? "  To  which  his  apt  reply 
was,  "  What  is  the  use  of  a  child  ?  It  may  become  a 
man ! "  When  Galvani  discovered  that  a  frog's  leg 
twitched  when  placed  in  contact  with  different  metals,  it 
could  scarcely  have  been  imagined  that  so  apparently  in- 
significant a  fact  could  have  led  to  important  results.  Yet 
therein  lay  the  germ  of  the  Electric  Telegraph,  which 
binds  the  intelligence  of  continents  together,  and  probably 
before  many  years  elapse  will  "  put  a  girdle  round  the 
globe."  So  too,  little  bits  of  stone  and  fossil,  dug  out  of 
the  earth,  intelligently  interpreted,  have  issued  in  the 
science  of  geology  and  the  practical  operations  of  mining, 
in  which  large  capitals  are  invested  and  vast  numbers 
of  persons  profitably  employed. 

The  gigantic  machinery  employed  in  pumping  our 
mines,  working  our  mills  and  manufactories,  and  driving 
our  steam-ships  and  locomotives,  in  like  manner  depends 
for  its  supply  of  power  upon  so  slight  an  agency  as  little 
drops  of  water  expanded  by  heat,  —  that  familiar  agency 
called  steam,  which  we  see  issuing  from  the  common  tea- 
kettle spout,  but  when  pent  up  within  an  ingeniously 
contrived  mechanism,  displays  a  force"  equal  to  that  of 
millions  of  horses,  and  contains  a  power  to  rebuke  the 
waves  and  to  set  even  the  hurricane  at  defiance.  The 
same  power  at  work  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth  haa 
been  the  cause  of  many  of  those  semi-miraculous  catas- 


102        THE  ART  OF  SEIZING  OPPORTUNITIES.    CHAP.  IV. 

trophes,  —  volcanoes  and  earthquakes,  —  which  have  play 
ed  so  mighty  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  globe. 

It  is  said  that  the  Marquis  of  Worcester's  attention 
was  first  accidentally  directed  to  the  subject  of  steam 
power,  by  the  tight  cover  of  a  vessel  containing  hot 
water  having  been  blown  off  before  his  eyes,  when  con- 
fined a  prisoner  in  the  Tower.  He  published  the  result 
of  his  observations  in  his  "  Century  of  Inventions,"  which 
formed  a  sort  of  text-book  for  inquirers  into  the  powers 
of  steam  for  several  generations,  until  Savary,  New- 
comen,  and  others,  applying  it  to  practical  purposes, 
brought  it  to  the  state  in  which  Watt  found  it  when  called 
upon  to  repair  a  model  of  Newcomen's  engine,  which  be- 
longed to  the  University  of  Glasgow.  This  accidental 
circumstance  was  an  opportunity  for  Watt,  which  he  was 
not  slow  to  improve ;  and  it  was  the  labor  of  his  life  to 
bring  the  steam-engine  to  perfection. 

This  art  of  seizing  opportunities  and  turning  even  acci- 
dents to  account,  bending  them  to  some  purpose,  is  a  great 
secret  of  success.  Dr.  Johnson  has  defined  genius  to  be 
"  a  mind  of  large  general  powers  accidentally  determined 
in  some  particular  direction."  Men  who  are  resolved  to 
find  a  way  for  themselves,  will  always  find  opportunities 
enough  ;  and  if  they  do  not  lie  ready  to  their  hand,  they 
will  make  them.  It  is  not  those  who  have  enjoyed  the 
advantages  of  colleges,  museums,  and  public  galleries, 
that  have  accomplished  the  most  for  science  and  art ;  nor 
have  the  greatest  mechanics  and  inventors  been  trained 
in  mechanics'  institutes.  Necessity,  oftener  than  facility, 
has  been  the  mother  of  invention  ;  and  the  most  prolific 
school  of  all  has  been  the  school  of  difficulty.  Some  of 
the  very  best  workmen  have  had  the  most  indifferent 
tools  to  work  with.  But  it  is  not  tools  that  make  the 


CHAP.  IV.         BUDE  SCIENTIFIC  APPARATUS.  103 

workman,  but  the  trained  skill  and  perseverance  of  the 
man  himself.  Indeed  it  is  proverbial  that  the  bad  work- 
man never  yet  had  a  good  tool.  Some  one  a?ked  Opie 
by  what  wonderful  process  he  mixed  his  colors.  "  I 
mix  them  with  my  brains,  sir,"  was  his  reply.  It  is  the 
same  with  every  workman  who  would  excel.  Ferguson 
made  marvellous  things,  —  such  as  his  wooden  clock,  that 
accurately  measured  the  hours,  —  by  means  of  a  common 
penknife,  a  tool  in  everybody's  hand  ;  but  then  everybody 
is  not  a  Ferguson.  A  pan  of  water  and  two  thermome- 
ters were  the  tools  by  which  Dr.  Black  discovered  latent 
heat ;  and  a  prism,  a  lens,  and  a  sheet  of  pasteboard 
enabled  Newton  to  unfold  the  composition  of  light  and 
the  origin  of  colors.  An  eminent  foreign  savant  once 
called  upon  Dr.  Wollaston,  and  requested  to  be  shown 
over  his  laboratories,  in  which  science  had  been  enriched 
by  so  many  important  discoveries,  when  the  doctor  took 
him  into  a  little  study,  and,  pointing  to  an  old  tea-tray  on 
the  table,  containing  a  few  watch-glasses,  test  papers,  a 
small  balance,  and  a  blowpipe,  said,  "  There  is  all  the 
laboratory  that  I  have  !  " 

Stothard  learned  the  art  of  combining  colors  by  closely 
studying  butterflies'  wings ;  he  would  often  say  that  no 
one  knew  what  he  owed  to  these  tiny  insects.  A  burnt 
stick  and  a  barn-door  served  Wilkie  in  lieu  of  pencil  and 
canvas.  Bewick  first  practised  drawing  on  the  cottage 
walls  of  his  native  village,  which  he  covered  with  his 
sketches  in  chalk ;  and  Benjamin  West  made  his  first 
brushes  out  of  the  cat's  tail.  Ferguson  laid  himself  down 
in  the  fields  at  night  in  a  blanket,  and  made  a  map  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  by  means  of  a  thread  with  small  beads 
on  it  stretched  between  his  eye  and  the  stars.  Franklin 
first  robbed  the  thunder-cloud  of  its  lightning  by  means 


104  SCOTT.  —  SELF-IMPROVEMENT.          CHAP.  IV, 

of  a  kite  made  with  two  cross  sticks  and  a  silk  handker- 
chief. Watt  made  his  first  model  of  the  condensing 
steam-engine  out  of  an  old  anatomist's  syringe,  used  to 
inject  the  arteries  previous  to  dissection.  Gifford  worked 
his  first  problem  in  mathematics,  when  a  cobbler's  ap- 
prentice, upon  small  scraps  of  leather,  which  he  beat 
smooth  for  the  purpose  ;  whilst  Rittenhouse,  the  astron- 
omer, first  calculated  eclipses  on  his  plough  handle. 

The  most  ordinary  occasions  will  furnish  a  man  with 
opportunities  or  suggestions  for  improvement,  if  he  be  but 
prompt  to  take  advantage  of  them.  Professor  Lee  waa 
first  attracted  to  the  study  of  Hebrew  by  finding  a  Bible 
in  this  language  in  a  synagogue,  while  working  as  a  com- 
mon carpenter  at  the  repairs  of  the  benches.  He  be- 
came possessed  with  a  desire  to  read  the  book  in  the  orig- 
inal, and,  buying  a  cheap  second-hand  copy  of  a  Hebrew 
grammar,  he  set  to  work  and  soon  learnt  the  language 
for  himself.  As  Edmund  Stone  said  to  the  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyle,  in  answer  to  his  Grace's  inquiry,  how  he,  a  poor  gar- 
dener's boy,  had  contrived  to  be  able  to  read  Newton's 
Principia  in  Latin,  "  One  needs  only  to  know  the  twenty- 
four  letters  of  the  alphabet  in  order  to  learn  everything 
else  that  one  wishes."  Application  and  persreverance, 
and  the  diligent  improvement  of  opportunities,  will  do 
the  rest. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  found  opportunities  for  self-improve- 
ment in  every  pursuit,  and  turned  even  accidents  to  ac- 
count. Thus  it  was  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions  as 
a  writer's  apprentice  that  he  first  penetrated  into  the 
Highlands,  and  formed  those  friendships  among  the  sur- 
viving heroes  of  1745  which  served  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  large  class  of  his  works.  Later  in  life,  when  em- 
ployed as  quartermaster  of  the  Edinburgh  Light  Cavalry, 


CHAP.  IV      PRIESTLY.  —  SIR  HUMPHRY  DAVY.  105 

he  was  accidentally  disabled  by  the  kick  of  a  horse,  and 
confined  for  some  time  to  his  house ;  but  Scott  was  a 
sworn  enemy  to  idleness,  and  he  forthwith  set  his  mind 
to  work,  and  in  three  days  composed  the  first  canto  of 
"  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,"  —  his  first  great  original 
work. 

The  attention  of  Dr.  Priestley,  the  founder  of  a  new 
department  of  science,  and  the  discoverer  of  many  gases, 
was  accidentally  drawn  to  the  subject  by  the  circumstance 
of  his  residing  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large  brewery. 
Being  an  attentive  observer,  he  noted,  in  visiting  the 
brewery,  the  peculiar  appearances  attending  the  extinc- 
tion of  lighted  chips  in  the  gas  floating  over  the  fer- 
mented liquor.  He  was  forty  years  old  at  the  time,  and 
knew  nothing  of  chemistry ;  he  obtained  access,  how- 
ever, to  books,  which  taught  him  little,  for  as  yet  nothing 
was  known  on  the  subject.  Then  he  commenced  experi- 
menting, devising  his  own  apparatus,  which  was  of  the 
rudest  description.  The  curious  results  of  his  first  experi- 
ments led  to  others,  which  in  his  hands  shortly  became 
the  science  of  pneumatic  chemistry.  About  the  same  time, 
Scheele  was  obscurely  working  in  the  same  direction  in 
a  remote  Swedish  village  ;  and  he  discovered  several  new 
gases,  with  no  more  effective  apparatus  at  his  command 
than  a  few  apothecaries'  phials  and  pigs'  bladders. 

Sir  Humphry  Davy,  when  an  apothecary's  apprentice, 
performed  his  first  experiments  with  instruments  of  the 
rudest  description.  He  extemporized  the  greater  part  of 
them  himself,  out  of  the  motley  materials  which  chance 
threw  in  his  way.  The  pots  and  pans  of  the  kitchen, 
and  the  phials  and  vessels  of  his  master's  surgery,  were 
"emorselessly  put  in  requisition.  It  happened  that  a 
French  vessel  was  wrecked  off  the  Land's  End,  and  the 
5* 


106  PROFESSOR  FARADAY.  CHAP.  IV. 

surgeon  escaped,  bearing  with  him  his  case  of  instru- 
ments, amongst  which  was  an  old-fashioned  clyster  appa- 
ratus ;  this  article  he  presented  to  Davy,  with  whom  he 
had  become  acquainted.  The  apothecary's  apprentice  re- 
ceived it  with  great  exultation,  and  forthwith  employed  it 
as  part  of  a  pneumatic  apparatus  which  he  contrived,  after- 
wards using  it  to  perform  the  duties  of  an  air-pump  in 
one  of  his  experiments  on  the  nature  and  sources  of  heat. 
In  like  manner  Professor  Faraday,  Sir  Humphry 
Davy's  scientific  successor,  made  his  first  experiments  in 
electricity  by  means  of  an  old  bottle,  while  he  was  still  a 
working  bookbinder.  And  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  Fara- 
day was  first  attracted  to  the  study  of  chemistry  by  hear- 
ing one  of  Sir  Humphry  Davy's  lectures  on  the  subject 
at  the  Royal  Institution.  A  gentleman,  who  was  a  mem- 
ber, calling  one  day  at  the  shop  where  Faraday  was  em- 
ployed in  binding  books,  found  him  poring  over  the  article 
"  Electricity  "  in  an  Encyclopedia  placed  in  his  hands  to 
bind.  The  gentleman,  having  made  inquiries,  found  he 
was  curious  about  such  subjects,  and  gave  him  an  order 
of  admission  to  the  Royal  Institution,  where  he  attended 
a  course  of  four  lectures  delivered  by  Sir  Humphry. 
He  took  notes  of  the  lectures,  which  he  showed  to  the 
lecturer,  who  acknowledged  their  scientific  accuracy,  and 
was  surprised  when  informed  of  the  humble  position  of 
the  reporter.  Faraday  then  expressed  his  desire  to  de- 
vote himself  to  the  prosecution  of  chemical  studies,  from 
which  Sir  Humphry  at  first  endeavored  to  dissuade  him ; 
but  the  young  man  persisting,  he  was  at  length  taken  into 
the  Royal  Institution  as  an  assistant ;  and  eventually  the 
mantle  of  the  brilliant  apothecary's  boy  fell  upon  the 
worthy  shoulders  of  the  equally  brilliant  bookbinder's 
apprentice. 


CHAP.  IV.  CUVIER.  107 

The  words  which  Davy  entered  in  his  note-book,  when 
about  twenty  years  of  age,  working  away  in  Dr.  Bed- 
does's  laboratory  at  Bristol,  were  eminently  characteristic 
of  him  :  "  I  have  neither  riches,  nor  power,  nor  birth,  to 
recommend  me ;  yet,  if  I  live,  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  of 
less  service  to  mankind  and  my  friends,  than  if  I  had 
been  born  with  all  these  advantages."  Davy  possessed 
the  capability,  as  Faraday  does,  of  devoting  all  the  powers 
of  his  mind  to  the  practical  and  experimental  investigation 
of  a  subject  in  all  its  bearings ;  and  such  a  mind  will 
rarely  fail,  by  dint  of  mere  industry  and  patient  thinking, 
in  producing  results  of  the  highest  order.  Coleridge 
said  of  Davy,  "  There  is  an  energy  and  elasticity  in  his 
mind,  which  enables  him  to  seize  on  and  analyze  all 
questions,  pushing  them  to  their  legitimate  consequences. 
Every  subject  in  Davy's  mind  has  the  principle  of  vital- 
ity. Living  thoughts  spring  up  like  turf  under  his  feet." 
Davy,  on  his  part,  said  of  Coleridge,  whose  abilities  he 
greatly  admired,  "  With  the  most  exalted  genius,  enlarged 
views,  sensitive  heart,  and  enlightened  mind,  he  will  be 
the  victim  of  a  want  of  order,  precision,  and  regularity." 

Cuvier,  when  a  youth,  was  one  day  strolling  along  the 
sands  near  Fiquainville,  in  Normandy,  when  he  observed 
a  cuttle-fish  lying  stranded  on  the  beach.  He  was  at- 
tracted by  the  curious  object,  took  it  home  to  dissect,  and 
began  the  study  of  the  mollusca,  which  ended  in  his  be- 
coming one  of  the  greatest  among  natural  historians.  In 
like  manner,  Hugh  Miller's  curiosity  was  excited  by  the 
remarkable  traces  of  extinct  sea-animals  in  the  Old  Red 
Sandstone,  on  which  he  worked  as  a  quarryman.  He 
inquired,  observed,  studied,  and  became  a  geologist.  "  It 
was  the  necessity,"  said  he,  "  which  made  me  a  quarrier, 
that  taught  me  to  be  a  geologist." 


108  SIR  JOSEPH  PAXTON.  CHAP.  IV. 

Sir  Joseph  Paxton  was  acting  as  gardener  to  the  Duke 
of  Devonshire  when  the  Committee  of  the  Exhibition  of 
1851  advertised  for  plans  of  a  building.  The  architects 
and  engineers  seem  to  have  been  very  much  at  fault  when 
Paxton  submitted  his  design,  and  its  novelty  and  remark- 
able suitability  for  the  purposes  intended  at  once  secured 
its  adoption.  The  first  sketch  was  made  upon  a  sheet  of 
blotting-paper  in  the  rooms  of  the  Midland  Railway  Com- 
pany at  Derby  ;  and  this  first  rough  sketch  indicated 
the  principal  features  of  the  building  as  accurately  as  the 
most  finished  drawings  which  were  afterwards  prepared. 
The  great  idea  of  the  Crystal  Palace  was  as  palpable  on 
the  blotting-paper  as  if  it  had  been  set  forth  in  all  the 
glory  of  water-color  and  gold  framing.  Was  it  a  sudden 
idea,  —  an  inspiration  of  genius,  —  flashing  upon  the 
mind  of  one  who,  though  no  architect,  must  at  least  have 
been  something  of  a  poet  ?  Not  at  all.  The  architect 
of  the  Crystal  Palace  was  simply  a  man  who  cultivated 
opportunities,  —  a  laborious,  painstaking  man,  whose  life 
had  been  a  life  of  labor,  of  diligent  self-improvement,  of 
assiduous  cultivation  of  knowledge.  The  idea,  as  Sir 
Joseph  Paxton  himself  has  shown,  in  a  lecture  before  the 
Society  of  Arts,  was  slowly  and  patiently  elaborated  by 
experiments  extending  over  many  years  ;  and  the  Ex- 
hibition of  1851  merely  afforded  him  the  opportunity  of 
putting  forward  his  idea,  —  the  right  thing  at  the  right 
time,  —  and  the  result  was  what  we  have  seen. 

It  is  not  accident,  then,  that  helps  a  man  in  the  world, 
but  purpose  and  persistent  industry.  These  make  a  man 
sharp  to  discern  opportunities,  and  turn  them  to  account. 
To  the  feeble,  the  sluggish,  and  purposeless,  the  happiest 
opportunities  avail  nothing,  —  they  pass  them  by,  seeing 
no  meaning  in  them.  But  if  we  are  prompt  to  seize  and 


CHAP.  IV.  VALUE  OF  PERSEVERANCE,  109 

improve  even  the  shortest  intervals  of  possible  action  and 
effort,  it  is  astonishing  how  much  can  be  accomplished. 
Watt  taught  himself  chemistry  and  mechanics  while  work- 
ing at  his  trade  of  a  mathematical  instrument-maker ;  and 
he  availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  extend  his 
knowledge  of  languages,  literature,  and  the  principles  of 
science.  Stephenson  taught  himself  arithmetic  and  men- 
suration while  working  as  an  engineman  during  the  night 
shifts,  and  he  studied  mechanics  during  his  spare  hours  at 
home,  thus  preparing  himself  for  his  great  work  — 
the  invention  of  the  passenger  locomotive.  Dalton's 
industry  was  the  habit  of  his  life.  He  began  from  his 
boyhood,  for  he  taught  a  little  village  school  when  he 
was  only  about  twelve  years  old ;  keeping  the  school  in 
winter,  and  working  upon  his  father's  farm  in  summer. 
He  would  sometimes  urge  himself  and  companions  to 
study  by  the  stimulus  of  a  bet,  though  bred  a  Quaker ; 
and  on  one  occasion,  by  his  satisfactory  solution  of  a 
problem,  he  in  this  way  won  as  much  as  enabled  him  to 
buy  a  winter's  store  of  candles.  He  went  on  indefatigably, 
making  his  meteorological  observations  until  a  day  or  two 
before  he  died,  —  having  made  and  recorded  upwards  of 
200,000  in  the  course  of  his  life. 

With  perseverance,  the  very  odds  and  ends  of  time 
may  be  worked  up  into  results  of  the  greatest  value. 
An  hour  in  every  day  withdrawn  from  frivolous  pur- 
suits, would,  if  profitably  employed,  enable  a  person  of 
ordinary  capacity  to  go  far  towards  mastering  a  complete 
science.  It  would  make  an  ignorant  man  a  well-informed 
man  in  ten  years.  We  must  not  allow  the  time  to 
pass  without  yielding  fruits,  in  the  form  of  something 
learnt  worthy  of  being  known,  some  good  principle  cul- 
tivated, or  some  good  habit  strengthened.  Dr.  Mason 


110         VALUE  OF  ODD  MOMENTS.      CHAP.  IV. 

Good  translated  Lucretius  while  riding  in  his  carriage 
in  the  streets  of  London,  going  his  rounds  among  his  pa- 
tients. Dr.  Darwin  composed  nearly  all  his  works  in  the 
same  way,  while  driving  about  in  his  "  sulky,"  from  house 
to  house  in  the  country,  —  writing  down  his  thoughts  on 
little  scraps  of  paper,  which  he  carried  about  with  him 
lor  the  purpose.  Hale  wrote  his  "  Contemplations  " 
while  travelling  on  circuit.  Dr.  Burney  learned  French 
and  Italian  while  travelling  on  horseback  from  one  musi- 
cal pupil  to  another  in  the  course  of  his  profession.  Kirke 
White  learned  Greek  while  walking  to  and  from  a  law- 
yer's office ;  and  we  personally  know  a  man  of  eminent 
position  in  a  northern  manufacturing  town,  who  learned 
Latin  and  French  while  going  messages  as  an  errand-boy 
in  the  streets  of  Manchester. 

Elihu  Burritt  attributed  his  first  success  in  self-im- 
provement, not  to  genius,  which  he  disclaimed,  but 
simply  to  the  careful  employment  of  those  invaluable 
fragments  of  time,  called  "  odd  moments."  While  work- 
ing and  earning  his  living  as  a  blacksmith,  he  mastered 
some  eighteen  ancient  and  modern  languages,  and  twen 
ty-two  European  dialects.  Withal,  he  was  exceedingly 
modest,  and  thought  his  achievements  nothing  extraor- 
dinary. Like  another  learned  and  wise  man,  of  whom 
it  was  said  that  he  could  be  silent  in  ten  languages, 
Elihu  Burritt  could  do  the  same  in  forty.  "  Those  who 
have  been  acquainted  with  my  character  from  my  youth 
up,"  said  he,  writing  to  a  friend,  "  will  give  me  credit  for 
sincerity  when  I  say,  that  it  never  entered  into  my  head 
to  blazon  forth  any  acquisition  of  my  own .  .  .  All  that  I 
have  accomplished,  or  expect,  or  hope  to  accomplish,  has 
been  and  will  be  by  that  plodding,  patient,  persevering 
process  of  accretion  which  builds  the  ant-heap,  —  particle 


CHAP.  IV.  VALUE  OF   ODD  MOMENTS.  Ill 

by  particle,  thought  by  thought,  fact  by  fact.  And  if 
fiver  I  was  actuated  by  ambition,  its  highest  and  warm- 
3st  aspiration  reached  no  further  than  the  hope  to  set 
before  the  young  men  of  my  country  an  example  in 
unploy^g  those  invaluable  fragments  of  time  called 
1  "dd.  moments.'  " 

Daguesseau,  one  of  the  great  Chancellors  of  France,  by 
carefully  working  up  his  odd  bits  of  time,  wrote  a  bulky 
and  able  volume  in  the  successive  intervals  of  waiting  for 
dinner ;  and  Madame  de  Genlis  composed  several  of  her 
charming  volumes  while  waiting  for  the  princess  to  whom 
she  gave  her  daily  lessons.  Jeremy  Bentham  in  like 
manner  disposed  of  his  hours  of  labor  and  repose,  so  that 
not  a  moment  should  be  lost,  the  arrangement  being  de- 
termined on  the  principle  that  it  is  a  calamity  to  lose  the 
smallest  portion  of  time.  He  lived  and  worked  habitu- 
ally under  the  practical  consciousness  that  man's  days 
are  numbered,  and  that  the  night  cometh  when  no  man 
can  work. 

What  a  solemn  and  striking  admonition  to  youth  is 
that  inscribed  on  the  dial  at  All  Souls,  Oxford,  —  "  Peri- 
unt  et  imputantur,"  —  the  hours  perish  and  are  laid  to 
our  charge.  For  time,  like  life,  can  never  be  recalled. 
Melancthon  noted  down  the  time  lost  by  him,  that  he 
might  thereby  reanimate  his  industry,  and  not  lose  an 
hour.  An  Italian  scholar  put  over  his  door  an  inscrip- 
tion intimating  that  whosoever  remained  there  should 
join  in  his  labors.  "  We  are  afraid,*1  said  some  visitors 
to  Baxter,  "  that  we  break  in  upon  your  time."  "  To  be 
sure  you  do,"  replied  the  disturbed  and  blunt  divine. 
Time  was  the  estate  out  of  which  these  great  workers, 
and  all  other  workers,  carved  a  rich  inheritance  of 
thoughts  and  deeds  for  their  successors. 


l!2    THOUGHTS  AND  FACTS   WRITTEN  DOWN.   CHAP.  IV, 

The  mere  drudgery  undergone  by  some  men  in  cairy- 
ing  on  their  undertakings  has  been  something  extraor- 
dinary ;  but  the  drudgery  they  regarded  as  the  price  of 
success.  Addison  amassed  as  much  as  three  folios  of 
manuscript  materials  before  he  began  his  "  Spectator." 
Newton  wrote  his  "  Chronology,"  fifteen  times  over  be- 
fore he  was  satisfied  with  it ;  and  Gibbon  wrote  out  his 
"  Memoir  "  nine  times.  Hale  studied  for  many  years  at 
the  rate  of  sixteen  hours  a  day,  and  when  wearied  with 
the  study  of  the  law,  he  would  recreate  himself  with 
philosophy  and  the  study  of  the  mathematics.  Hume 
wrote  thirteen  hours  a  day  while  preparing  his  "  History 
of  England."  Montesquieu,  speaking  of  one  part  of  his 
writings,  said  to  a  friend,  "  You  will  read  it  in  a  few 
hours  ;  but  I  assure  you  it  cost  me  so  much  labor  that  it 
has  whitened  my  hair." 

The  practice  of  writing  down  thoughts  and  facts  for 
the  purpose  of  holding  them  fast,  and  preventing  their 
escape  into  the  dim  region  of  forgetfulness,  has  been 
much  resorted  to  by  thoughtful  and  studious  men.  Lord 
Bacon  left  behind  him  many  manuscripts,  entitled  "  Sud- 
den thoughts  set  down  for  use."  Erskine  made  great 
extracts  from  Burke ;  and  Eldon  copied  Coke  upon  Lit- 
tleton twice  over  with  his  own  hand,  so  that  the  book 
became,  as  it  were,  part  of  his  own  mind.  The  late  Dr. 
Pye  Smith,  when  apprenticed  to  his  father  as  a  book- 
binder, was  accustomed  to  make  copious  memoranda  of 
all  the  books  he  read,  with  extracts  and  criticisms.  This 
indomitable  industry  in  collecting  materials  distinguished 
him  through  life,  his  biographer  describing  him  as  "  always 
at  work,  always  in  advance,  always  accumulating."  These 
note-books  afterwards  proved,  like  Richter's  "  quarries," 
the  great  storehouse  from  which  he  drew  his  illustrations. 


CHAP.  IV.          INDUSTRY  OF  JOHN   HUNTER.  llg 

The  same  practice  characterized  the  eminent  John 
Hunter,  who  adopted  it  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the 
defects  of  memory ;  and  he  was  accustomed  thus  to  illus- 
trate the  advantages  which  one  derives  from  putting 
one's  thoughts  in  writing  :  "  It  resembles,"  he  said,  "  a 
tradesman  taking  stock,  without  which  he  never  knows 
either  what  he  possesses  or  in  what  he  is  deficient." 
John  Hunter, —  whose  observation  was  so  keen  that 
Abernethy  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  him  as  "  the 
Argus-eyed,"  —  furnished  an  illustrious  example  of  the 
power  of  patient  industry.  He  received  little  or  no  edu- 
cation till  he  was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  he  acquired  the  arts  of  reading  and 
writing.  He  worked  for  some  years  as  a  common  car- 
penter at  Glasgow,  after  which  he  joined  his  brother 
William,  settled  in  London  as  a  lecturer  and  anatomical 
demonstrator.  John  entered  his  dissecting  room  as  an 
assistant,  but  soon  shot  ahead  of  his  brother,  partly  by 
virtue  of  his  great  natural  ability,  but  mainly  by  reason 
of  his  patient  application  and  indefatigable  industry.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  in  this  country  to  devote  himself  as- 
siduously to  the  study  of  comparative  anatomy,  and  the 
objects  he  dissected  and  collected  took  the  eminent 
Professor  Owen  no  less  than  ten  years  to  arrange.  The 
collection  contains  some  twenty  thousand  specimens,  and 
is  the  most  precious  treasure  of  the  kind  that  has  ever 
been  accumulated  by  the  industry  of  one  man.  Hunter 
used  to  spend  every  morning  from  sunrise  till  eight 
o'clock  in  his  museum ;  and  throughout  the  day  he  car- 
ried on  his  extensive  private  practice,  performed  his 
laborious  duties  as  surgeon  to  St.  George's  Hospital, 
and  deputy  surgeon-general  to  the  army  ;  delivered  lec- 
tures to  students,  and  superintended  a  school  of  practical 


114  JOHN  HUNTER.  CHAP.  IV 

anatomy  at  his  own  house  ;  finding  leisure,  amidst  all,,  for 
elaborate  experiments  on  the  animal  economy,  and  the 
composition  of  various  works  of  great  scientific  impor- 
tance. To  find  time  for  this  gigantic  amount  of  work,  he 
allowed  himself  only  four  hours  of  sleep  at  night,  and  an 
hour  after  dinner.  When  once  asked  what  method  he 
had  adopted  to  in*  ire  success  in  his  undertakings,  he 
replied,  "^My  rule  is,  deliberately  to  consider,  before  I 
commence,  whether  the  thing  be  practicable.  If  it  be 
not  practicable,  I  do  not  attempt  it.  If  it  be  practicable, 
I  can  accomplish  it  if  I  give  sufficient  pains  to  it ;  and 
having  begun,  I  never  stop  till  the  thing  is  done.  To 
this  rule  I  owe  all  my  success." 

John  Hunter  occupied  a  great  deal  of  his  time  in  col- 
lecting definite  facts  respecting'  matters  which,  before  his 
day,  were  regarded  as  exceedingly  trivial.  Thus  it  was 
supposed  by  many  of  his  contemporaries  that  he  was  only 
wasting  his  time  and  thought  in  studying  so  carefully  as 
he  did  the  growth  of  a  deer's  horn.  But  Hunter  was 
impressed  with  the  conviction  that  no  accurate  knowledge 
of  scientific  facts  is  without  its  value.  By  the  study  re- 
ferred to,  he  learned  how  arteries  accommodate  them- 
selves to  circumstances  and  enlarge  as  occasion  requires ; 
and  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  emboldened  him,  in  a 
case  of  aneurism  in  a  branch  artery,  to  tie  the  main  trunk 
where  no  surgeon  before  him  had  dared  to  tie  it,  and  the 
life  of  his  patient  was  saved.  Like  many  original  men, 
he  worked  for  a  long  time  as  it  were  underground,  dig- 
ging and  laying  foundations.  He  was  a  solitary  and  self- 
reliant  genius,  holding  on  his  course  without  the  solace  of 
sympathy  or  approbation,  —  for  but  few  of  his  contempo- 
raries perceived  the  ultimate  object  of  his  pursuits.  But 
like  all  true  workers,  he  did  not  fail  in  securing  his  best 


CHAP.  IV.  WILLIAM  HARVEY.  115 

reward,  • —  that  which  depends  less  upon  others  than  upon 
one's  self,  —  that  approval  of  conscience,  which  in  a  right- 
minded  man  invariably  follows  the  honest  and  vigorous 
performance  of  duty. 

Harvey  was  another  laborer  of  great  perseverance  in 
the  same  field  of  science.  He  spent  not  less  than  eight 
long  years  of  investigation  and  research  before  he  pub- 
lished his  views  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  He 
repeated  and  verified  his  experiments  again  and  again, 
probably  anticipating  the  opposition  he  would  have  to  en- 
counter from  the  profession  on  making  known  his  discov- 
ery. The  tract  in  which  he  at  length  announced  his 
views,  was  a  most  modest  one,  —  but  simple,  perspicuous, 
and  conclusive.  It  was  nevertheless  received  with  ridi- 
cule, as  the  utterance  of  a*  crack-brained  impostor.  For 
some  time,  he  did  not  make  a  single  convert,  and  gained 
nothing  but  contumely  and  abuse.  He  had  called  in 
question  the  revered  authority  of  the  ancients ;  and  it 
was  even  averred  that  his  views  were  calculated  to  sub- 
vert the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  undermine  the 
very  foundations  of  morality  and  religion.  His  little 
practice  fell  away,  and  he  was  left  almost  without  a 
friend.  This  lasted  for  some  years,  until  the  great  truth 
held  fast  by  Harvey  amidst  all  his  adversity,  and  which 
had  dropped  into  many  thoughtful  minds,  gradually  ri- 
pened by  further  observation,  and  after  a  period  of  about 
twenty-five  years,  it  became  generally  recognized  as  an 
established  scientific  truth. 

The  difficulties  encountered  by  Dr.  Jenner  in  promul- 
gating and  establishing  his  discovery  of  vaccination  as  a 
preventive  of  smallpox,  were  even  greater  than  those 
of  Harvey.  Many,  before  him,  had  witnessed  the  cow- 
pox,  and  had  heard  of  the  report  current  among  the 


116  JENNER  AND  VACCINATION.  CHAP.  IV. 

milkmaids  in  Gloucestershire,  that  whoever  had  taken 
that  disease  was  secure  against  smallpox.  It  was  a  tri- 
fling, vulgar  rumor,  supposed  to  have  no  significance 
whatever ;  and  no  one  had  thought  it  worthy  of  investi- 
gation, until  it  was  accidentally  brought  under  the  notice 
of  Jenner.  He  was  a  youth,  pursuing  his  studies  at  Sod- 
bury,  when  his  attention  was  arrested  by  the  casual  ob- 
servation made  by  a  country  girl  who  came  to  his  master's 
chop  for  advice.  The  smallpox  was  mentioned,  when 
the  girl  said,  "  I  can't  take  that  disease,  for  I  have  had 
cow-pox."  The  observation  immediately  riveted  Jen- 
ner's  attention,  and  he  forthwith  set  about  inquiring  and 
making  observations  on  the  subject  His  professional 
friends,  to  whom  he  mentioned  his  views  as  to  the  pro- 
phylactic virtues  of  cow-pox,  laughed  at  him,  and  even 
threatened  to  expel  him  from  their  society,  if  he  persisted 
in  harassing  them  with  the  subject.  In  London  he  was 
so  fortunate  as  to  study  under  John  Hunter,  to  whom  he 
communicated  his  views.  The  advice  of  the  great  anat- 
omist was  thoroughly  characteristic :  "  Don't  think,  but 
try;  be  patient,  be  accurate."  Jenner's  courage  was 
greatly  supported  by  the  advice,  which  conveyed  to  him 
the  true  art  of  philosophical  investigation.  He  went 
back  to  the  country  to  practise  his  profession,  and  care- 
fully to  make  observations  and  experiments,  which  he 
continued  to  pursue  for  a  period  of  twenty  years.  His 
faith  in  his  discovery  was  so  implicit  that  he  vaccinated 
his  own  son  on  three  several  occasions.  At  length  he 
published  his  views  in  a  quarto  of  about  seventy  pages, 
in  which  he  gave  the  details  of  twenty-three  cases  of 
successful  vaccination  of  individuals,  to  whom  it  was 
found  afterwards  impossible  to  communicate  the  small- 
pox either  by  contagion  or  inoculation.  It  was  in  1798 


CHAP.  IV.  JENNER  AND  VACCINATION.  117 

that  this  treatise  was  published;  though  he  had  been 
working  out  his  ideas  as  long  before  as  1775,  when  they 
began  to  assume  a  definite  form. 

How  was  the  discovery  received  ?  First  with  indiffer- 
ence, then  with  active  hostility.  He  proceeded  to  Lon- 
don to  exhibit  to  the  profession  the  process  of  vaccination 
and  its  successful  results ;  but  not  a  single  doctor  could 
be  got  to  make  a  trial  of  it,  arid  after  fruitlessly  waiting 
for  nearly  three  months,  Jenner  returned  to  his  native 
village.  He  was  even  caricatured  and  abused  for  his 
attempt  to  "bestialize"  his  species  by  the  introduction 
into  their  systems  of  diseased  matter  from  the  cow's 
udder.  Cobbett  was  one  of  his  most  furious  assailants. 
Vaccination  was  denounced  from  the  pulpit  as  "  diaboli- 
cal." It  was  averred  that  vaccinated  children  became 
"  ox-faced,"  that  abscesses  broke  out  to  "  indicate  sprout- 
ing horns,"  and  that  the  countenance  was  gradually 
"  transmuted  into  the  visage  of  a  cow,  the  voice  into  the 
bellowing  of  bulls."  Vaccination,  however,  was  a  truth, 
and  notwithstanding  the  violence  of  the  opposition,  belief 
in  it  spread  slowly.  In  one  village,  where  a  gentleman 
tried  to  introduce  the  practice,  the  first  persons  who  per- 
mitted themselves  to  be  vaccinated  were  absolutely  pelt- 
ed, and  were  driven  into  their  houses  if  they  appeared 
out  of  doors.  Two  ladies  of  title,  —  Lady  Ducie  and 
the  Countess  of  Berkeley,  —  to  their  honor  be  it  remem- 
bered,—  had  the  courage  to  vaccinate  their"  own  chil- 
dren ;  and  the  prejudices  of  the  day  were  at  once  broken 
through.  The  medical  profession  gradually  came  round, 
and  there  were  several  who  even  sought  to  rob  Dr.  Jen- 
ner of  the  merit  of  the  discovery,  when  its  vast  impor- 
tance came  to  be  recognized.  Jenner's  cause  at  last 
triumphed,  and  he  was  publicly  honored  and  rewarded. 


118  SIB  CHARLES  BELL.  CHAP.  IV. 

In  his  prosperity  he  was  as  modest  as  he  had  been  in  his 
obscurity.  He  was  invited  to  settle  in  London,  and  told 
that  he  might  command  a  practice  of  10,000/.  a  year. 
But  his  answer  was,  "  No  !  In  the  morning  of  my  days 
I  have  sought  the  sequestered  and  lowly  paths  of  life,  — 
the  valley,  and  not  the  mountain,  —  and  now,  in  the 
evening  of  my  days,  it  is  not  meet  for  me  to  hold  myself 
up  as  an  object  for  fortune  and  for  fame."  In  Jenner's 
own  lifetime  the  practice  of  vaccination  had  been  adopted 
all  over  the  civilized  world ;  and  when  he  died,  his  title 
as  a  Benefactor  of  his  kind  was  recognized  far  and  wide. 
Cuvier  has  said,  "  If  vaccine  were  the  only  discovery  of 
the  epoch,  it  would  serve  to  render  it  illustrious  forever." 
Not  less  patient,  resolute,  and  persevering,  was  Sir 
Charles  Bell  in  the  prosecution  of  his  discoveries  relating 
to  the  nervous  system.  Previous  to  his  time,  the  most 
confused  notions  prevailed  as  to  the  functions  of  the 
nerves,  and  this  branch  of  study  was  little  more  advanced 
than  it  had  been  in  the  times  of  Democritus  and  Anax- 
agoras  three  thousand  years  before.  Sir  Charles  Bell,  in 
the  valuable  series  of  papers  the  publication  of  which  was 
commenced  in  1821,  took  an  entirely  original  view  of  thu 
subject,  based  upon  a  long  series  of  careful,  accurate,  and 
oft-repeated  experiments.  Elaborately  tracing  the  de- 
velopment of  the  nervous  system  up  from  the  lowest  order 
of  animated  being,  to  man,  —  the  lord  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, —  he  displayed  it,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  as  plainly 
as  if  it  were  written  m  our  mother-tongue."  His  great 
discovery  consisted  in  the  fact,  that  the  spinal  nerves  are 
double  in  their  function,  and  arise  by  double  roots  from 
the  spinal  marrow,  —  volition  being  conveyed  by  that 
part  of  the  nerves  springing  from  the  one  root,  and  sensa- 
tion by  the  other.  The  whole  subject  occupied  the  mind 


CHAP.  IV.  DR.  MARSHALL  HALL.  119 

of  Sir  Charles  Bell  for  a  period  of  forty  years,  when,  in 
1840,  he  laid  his  last  paper  before  the  Royal  Society. 
As  in  the  cases  of  Harvey  and  Jenner,  when  he  had 
lived  down  the  ridicule  and  opposition  with  which  his 
views  were  first  received,  and  their  truth  came  to  be 
recognized,  numerous  claimants  for  priority  in  making 
the  discovery  were  set  up  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
Like  them,  too,  he  lost  practice  by  the  publication  of  his 
valuable  papers ;  and  he  left  it  on  record  that,  after 
every  step  in  his  discovery,  he  was  obliged  to  work 
harder  than  ever  to  preserve  his  reputation  as  a  practi- 
tioner. The  great  merits  of  Sir  Charles  Bell  were,  how- 
ever, at  length  fully  recognized ;  and  Cuvier  himself, 
when  on  his  death-bed,  finding  his  face  distorted  and 
drawn  to  one  side,  pointed  it  out  to  his  attendants  as  a 
proof  of  the  correctness  of  Sir  Charles  Bell's  theory. 

The  late  Dr.  Marshall  Hall  was  an  equally  devoted 
pursuer  of  the  same  branch  of  science.  He  was  the  son 
of  Mr.  Robert  Hall,  of  Basford,  near  Nottingham,  to 
whom  the  manufacturing  industry  of  this  country  owes 
so  much,  as  the  inventor  of  bleaching  by  chlorine  on  a 
large  scale,  by  which  a  process  was  accomplished  in  a 
few  hours  that  had  formerly  required  as  many  weeks.  It 
is  remarkable  that  Mr.  Hall's  neighbors  designated  the 
place  where  he  first  made  his  attempt  by  the  name  of 
"  Bedlam,"  which  it  still  retains.*  To  Mr.  Hall's  second 

*  Baron  Liebig,  in  his  "Letters  on  Chemistry"  (3rd  ed.,  p.  28),  says, 
u  But  for  this  new  bleaching  process,  it  would  scarcely  have  been  pos- 
sible for  the  cotton  manufacture  of  Great  Britain  to  have  attained  its 
present  enormous  extent;  —  it  could  not  have  competed  in  prices  with 
France  and  Germany.  In  the  old  process  of  bleaching,  every  piece 
must  be  exposed  to  the  air  during  several  weeks  in  the  summer,  and 
kept  continually  moist  by  manual  labor.  For  this  purpose  meadow- 
land,  eligibly  situated,  was  essential.  Now,  a  single  establishment 
near  Glasgow  bleaches  1400  pieces  daily  throughout  the  year.  What 


120  DR.  MARSHALL  HALL.  CHAP.  IV. 

son,  Samuel,  Nottingham  owes  in  a  great  measure  its 
present  commercial  prosperity  and  importance,  arising 
from  his  inventions  of  the  process  of  gassing  lace,  and 
the  bleaching  of  starch,  by  which  the  Nottingham  cotton 
fabrics  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  the  linen-thread 
lace  of  the  Continent.  Mr.  Hall's  fourth  son  was  the 
celebrated  physician  and  physiologist,  Dr.  Marshall  Hall, 
whose  name  posterity  will  rank  with  those  of  Harvey, 
Hunter,  Jenner,  and  Bell.  During  the  whole  course  of 
his  long  and  useful  life  he  was  a  most  careful  and  minute 
observer;  and  no  fact,  however  apparently  insignificant, 
escaped  his  attention.  His  important  discovery  of  the 
diastaltic  nervous  system,  by  which  his  name  will  long  be 
known  amongst  scientific  men,  originated  in  an  exceed- 
ingly simple  circumstance.  When  investigating  the  pneu- 
monic circulation  in  the  Triton,  the  decapitated  object  lay 
upon  the  table ;  and  on  separating  the  tail  and  acciden- 
tally pricking  the  external  integument,  he  observed  that  it 
moved  with  energy,  and  became  contorted  into  various 
forms.  He  had  not  touched  a  muscle  nor  a  muscular 
nerve ;  what  then  was  the  nature  of  these  movements  ? 
The  same  phenomena  had  probably  often  before  been 
observed,  but  Dr.  Hall  was  the  first  to  apply  himself 
perseveringly  to  the  investigation  of  their  causes ;  and 
he  exclaimed  on  the  occasion,  "  I  will  never  rest  satisfied 
until  I  have  found  all  this  out,  and  made  it  clear."  His 
attention  to  the  subject  was  almost  incessant ;  and  it  is 
estimated  that  in  the  course  of  his  life  he  devoted  not  less 
than  25,000  hours  to  its  experimental  and  chemical  inves- 
tigation ;  at  the  same  time  he  was  carrying  on  an  ex- 
tensive private  practice,  and  officiating  as  a  lecturer  at 

an  enormous  capital  would  be  required  to  purchase  land  for  this  pur- 
pose in  England!  " 


CHAP.  IV.    SIR  WILLIAM  HERSCHEL,  —  MUSICIAN.          121 

St.  Thomas's  Hospital  and  other  Medical  Schools.  It 
will  scarcely  be  credited  that  the  paper  in  which  he  em- 
bodied his  discovery  was  rejected  by  the  Royal  Society, 
and  was  only  accepted  after  the  lapse  of  seventeen  years, 
when  the  truth  of  his  views  had  become  acknowledged 
by  scientific  men  both  at  home  and  abroad.  A  character 
so  manly  and  beautiful  as  that  of  Dr.  Marshall  Hall,  so 
hopeful  and  persevering  under  difficulties,  so  truth-loving 
and  sincere  in  all  things,  is  so  profitable  a  subject  for 
contemplation  and  study,  that  we  rejoice  to  learn  there  is 
a  probability  of  his  memory  being  shortly  embalmed  in  a 
biography,  which  we  doubt  not  will  be  worthy  of  him. 

The  life  of  Sir  William  Herschel  affords  another  re- 
markable illustration  of  the  force  of  perseverance  in 
another  branch  of  science.  His  father  was  a  poor  Ger- 
man musician,  who  brought  up  his  four  sons  to  the  same 
calling.  William  came  over  to  England  to  seek  his  for- 
tune, and  he  joined  the  band  of  the  Durham  Militia,  in 
which  he  played  the  oboe.  The  regiment  was  lying  at 
Doncaster,  where  Dr.  Miller  first  became  acquainted 
with  Herschel,  having  heard  him  perform  a  solo  on  the 
violin  in  a  surprising  manner.  The  Doctor  entered  into 
conversation  with  the  youth,  and  was  so  pleased  with 
him,  that  he  urged  him  to  leave  the  militia  band  and 
take  up  his  residence  at  his  house  for  a  time.  Herschel 
did  so,  and  while  at  Doncaster  was  principally  occupied 
in  violin-playing  at  concerts,  availing  himself  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  Dr.  Miller's  library  to  study  in  his  leisure 
hours.  A  new  organ  having  been  built  for  the  parish 
church  of  Halifax,  an  organist  was  advertised  for,  on 
which  Herschel  applied  for  the  office,  and  was  selected. 
While  officiating  as  organist  and  music-teacher  at  Hali- 
fax, he  began  to  study  mathematics,  unassisted  by  any 


122      SIR  WILLIAM  HERSCIIEL— ASTRONOMER.    CHAP.  IV 

master.  Leading  the  wandering  life  of  an  artist,  he  was 
next  attracted  to  Bath,  where  he  played  in  the  Pump- 
room  band,  and  also  officiated  as  organist  in  the  Octagon 
chapel.  Some  recent  discoveries  in  astronomy  having 
arrested  his  mind,  and  awakened  in  him  a  powerful  spirit 
of  curiosity,  he  sought  and  obtained  from  a  friend  the 
loan  of  a  two-foot  Gregorian  telescope.  So  fascinated 
was  the  poor  musician  by  the  science,  that  he  even 
thought  of  purchasing  a  telescope,  but  the  price  asked  by 
the  London  optician  was  so  alarming,  that  he  determined 
to  make  one.  Those  who  know  what  a  reflecting  tele- 
scope is,  and  the  skill  which  is  required  to  prepare  the 
concave  metallic  speculum  which  forms  the  most  impor- 
tant part  of  the  apparatus,  will  be  able  to  form  some 
idea  of  the  difficulty  of  this  undertaking.  Nevertheless, 
Herschel  succeeded,  after  long  and  painful  labor,  in  com- 
pleting a  five-foot  reflector,  with  which  he  had  the  grati- 
fication of  observing  the  ring  and  satellites  of  Saturn. 
Not  satisfied  with  this  triumph,  he  proceeded  to  make 
other  instruments  in  succession,  of  seven,  ten,  and  even 
twenty  feet.  In  constructing  the  seven-foot  reflector,  he 
finished  no  fewer  than  two  hundred  specula  before  he 
produced  one  that  would  bear  any  power  that  was  ap- 
plied to  it,  —  a  striking  instance  of  the  persevering  la- 
boriousness  of  the  man.  While  sublimely  gauging  the 
heavens  with  his  instruments,  he  continued  patiently  to 
earn  his  bread  by  piping  to  the  fashionable  frequenters 
of  the  Bath  Pump-room.  So  eager  was  he  in  his  astro- 
nomical observations,  that  he  wculd  steal  away  from  the 
room  during  an  interval  of  the  performance,  give  a  little 
turn  to  his  telescope,  and  contentedly  return  to  his  oboe. 
Thus  working  away,  Herschel  discovered  the  Georgium 
Sidus,  the  orbit  and  rate  of  motion  of  which  he  carefully 


CHAP.  IV.     WILLIAM  SMITH,  THE  GEOLOGIST.  123 

calculated,  and  sent  the  result  to  the  Royal  Society; 
when  the  humble  oboe-player  found  himself  at  once  ele- 
vated from  obscurity  to  fame.  He  was  shortly  after 
appointed  Astronomer  Royal,  and  by  the  kindness  of 
George  III.  was  placed  in  a  position  of  honorable  com- 
petency for  life.  He  bore  his  honors  with  the  same 
meekness  and  humility  which  had  distinguished  him  in 
the  days  of  his  obscurity.  So  gentle  and  patient,  and 
withal  so  distinguished  and  successful  a  follower  of 
science  under  difficulties,  perhaps  does  not  occur  in  the 
whole  range  of  biography. 

The  career  of  William  Smith,  the  father  of  English 
geology,  though  perhaps  less  known,  is  no  less  interesting 
and  instructive  as  an  example  of  patient  and  laborious 
effort,  and  the  diligent  cultivation  of  opportunities.  He 
was  born  in  1769,  the  son  of  a  yeoman  fanner  at  Church- 
ill, in  Oxfordshire.  His  father  dying  when  he  was  but  a 
child,  he  received  a  very  sparing  education  at  the  vil- 
lage school,  and  even  that  was  to  a  considerable  extent 
interfered  with  by  his  wandering  and  somewhat  idle 
habits  as  a  boy.  His  mother  having  married  a  second 
time,  'he  was  taken  in  charge  by  an  uncle,  also  a  farmer, 
by  whom  he  was  brought  up.  Though  the  uncle  was  by 
no  means  pleased  with  the  boy's  love  of  wandering  about, 
collecting  "pound-stones,"  "pundips,"  and  other  stony 
curiosities  which  lay  scattered  about  the  adjoining  land, 
he  yet  enabled  him  to  purchase  a  few  of  the  necessary 
books  wherewith  to  instruct  himself  in  the  rudiments  of 
geometry  and  surveying ;  for  the  boy  was  already  des- 
tined for  the  business  of  a  land-surveyor.  One  of  his 
marked  characteristics  even  as  a  youth,  was  the  accuracy 
and  keenness  of  his  observation ;  and  what  he  once 
clearly  saw  he  never  forgot.  He  began  to  draw,  at- 


124  WILLIAM  SMITH.  THE  GEOLOGIST.      CHAP.  IV, 

tempted  to  color,  and  practised  himself  in  the  arts  of 
mensuration  and  surveying,  all  without  regular  instruc- 
tion;  and  by  his  own  efforts  in  self-culture,  he  shortly 
became  so  proficient,  that  he  was  taken  on  as  assistant  to 
a  local  surveyor  of  some  ability,  himself  self-taught,  who 
was  engaged  in  extensive  surveys  of  the  neighborhood. 
This  position  introduced  William  Smith  to  considerable 
experience  as  a  surveyor,  and  in  the  course  of  his  busi- 
ness he  was  constantly  under  the  necessity  of  traversing 
Oxfordshire  and  the  adjoining  counties.  One  of  the  first 
things  that  he  seriously  pondered,  was  the  position  of  the 
various  soils  and  strata  that  came  under  his  notice  on  the 
lands  which  he  surveyed  or  travelled  over ;  more  espec- 
ially the  position  of  the  red  earth  in  regard  to  the  lias  and 
superincumbent  rocks.  The  surveys  of  various  collieries 
which  he  was  called  upon  to  conduct  in  the  course  of  his 
business  in  1792  and  1793,  gave  him  further  experience; 
and  even  at  this  early  period,  when  he  was  only  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  he  seems  to  have  contemplated  making 
a  model  of  the  strata  of  the  earth. 

About  this  time  many  plans  for  new  canals  were 
on  foot,  and  Mr.  Smith,  with  a  keen  eye  for  business, 
took  steps  to  qualify  himself  for  canal  surveying.  It 
was  while  engaged  in  levelling  for  a  proposed  canal  in 
Gloucestershire,  that  the  idea  of  a  general  law  occurred 
to  him,  relating  to  the  strata  of  the  district.  He  conceived 
that  the  strata  lying  above  the  coal  were  not  laid  horizon- 
tally, but  inclined,  and  in  one  direction,  towards  the  east ; 
resembling  on  a  large  scale,  "  the  ordinary  appearance  of 
superposed  slices  of  bread  and  butter."  The  correctness 
of  this  theory  he  shortly  after  confirmed  by  the  levelling 
processes  executed  by  him  in  two  parallel  valleys,  the 
strata  of  "red  ground,"  "  lias,"  and  "  freestone  "  or  "oolite," 


CHAP.  IV.     WILLIAM  SMITH,  THE  GEOLOGIST.  125 

being  found  to  come  down  in  an  eastern  direction,  and  to 
sink  below  the  level,  yielding  place  to  the  next  in  succes- 
sion. He  was  shortly  after  enabled  to  verify  the  truth  of 
his  views  on  a  larger  scale,  having  been  appointed  to  ex- 
amine personally  into  the  management  of  canals  in  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  immediately  on  the  passing  of  the  Canal 
Bill  on  which  he  had  been  engaged.  During  his  journey, 
which  extended  from  Bath  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  return- 
ing by  Shropshire  and  Wales,  his  keen  eyes  were  never 
idle  for  a  moment.  He  rapidly  noted  the  aspect  and 
structure  of  the  country  through  which  he  passed  with 
his  companions,  treasuring  up  his  observations  for  future 
use.  His  geologic  vision  was  so  acute,  that  though  the 
road  along  which  he  passed  from  York  to  Newcastle  in 
the  postchaise  was  from  five  to  fifteen  miles  distant  from 
the  hills  of  chalk  and  oolite  on  the  east,  he  was  satisfied 
as  to  their  nature,  by  their  contours  and  relative  position, 
and  their  ranges  on  the  surface  in  relation  to  the  lias  and 
"  red  ground  "  occasionally  seen  on  the  road. 

The  general  results  of  his  observation  seem  to  have 
been  these.  He  noted  that  the  rocky  masses  of  country 
in  the  western  parts  of  England  generally  inclined  to  the 
east  and  southeast;  that  the  red  sandstones  and  marls 
above  the  coal-measures  passed  beneath  the  lias,  clay,  and 
limestone,  that  these  again  passed  beneath  the  sands,  yel- 
low limestones,  and  clays,  forming  the  table-land  of  the 
Cotteswold  Hills,  while  these  in  turn  passed  beneath  the 
great  chalk  deposits,  occupying  the  eastern  parts  of  Eng- 
land. He  further  observed  that  each  layer  of  clay,  sand, 
and  limestone,  held  its  own  peculiar  classes  of  fossils ; 
and  pondering  much  on  these  things,  he  at  length  came 
to  the  then  unheard-of  conclusion,  that  each  distinct  de- 
posit of  marine  animals,  in  these  several  strata,  indicated 


126  WILLIAM   SMITH,  THE  GEOLOGIST.     CHAP.  IV. 

a  distinct  sea-bottom,  and  that  each  layer  of  clay,  sand 
chalk,  and  stone,  marked  a  distinct  epoch  of  time  in  the 
history  of  the  earth. 

This  idea  took  firm  possession  of  his  mind,  and  he 
could  talk  and  think  of  nothing  else.  At  canal  boards,  at 
sheep-shearings,  at  county  meetings,  and  at  agricultural 
associations,  "  Strata  Smith,"  as  he  came  to  be  called,  was 
always  running  over  with  the  subject  that  possessed  him. 
He  had  indeed  made  a  great  discovery,  though  he  was  as 
yet  a  man  utterly  unknown  in  the  scientific  world.  He 
now  projected  the  preparation  of  a  map  of  the  stratifica- 
tion of  England;  but  he  was  for  the  present  deterred 
from  proceeding  with  it,  his  time  being  wholly  occupied 
in  carrying  out  the  works  of  the  Somersetshire  coal  ca- 
nal, which  engaged  him  for  a  period  of  about  six  years. 
He  continued,  nevertheless,  to  be  unremitting  in  his  ob- 
servation of  facts,  and  he  became  so  expert  in  appre- 
hending the  internal  structure  of  a  district,  and  detecting 
the  lie  of  the  strata,  from  its  external  configuration,  that 
he  was  often  consulted  respecting  the  drainage  of  exten- 
sive tracts  of  land,  in  which,  guided  by  his  geological 
knowledge,  he  proved  remarkably  successful,  and  ac- 
quired an  extensive  reputation. 

One  day,  when  looking  over  the  cabinet  collection  of 
fossils  belonging  to  the  Rev.  Samuel  Richardson,  at  Bath, 
Smith  astonished  his  friend  by  suddenly  disarranging  his 
classification,  and  rapidly  rearranging  the  fossils  in  their 
etratigraphical  order,  —  "  These  came  from  the  blue  lias, 
these  from  the  overlying  sand  and  freestone,  these  from 
the  fuller's-earth,  and  these  from  the  Bath  building  stone." 
A  new  light  flashed  upon  Mr.  Richardson's  mind,  and  he 
shortly  became  a  convert  to,  and  believer  in,  William 
Smith's  doctrine.  But  the  geologists  of  that  day  were  not 


CHAP.  IV       WILLIAM   SMITH,  THE   GEOLOGIST.  127 

so  easily  convinced  ;  and  it  was  scarcely  to  be  tolerated  that 
an  unknown  country  land-surveyor  should  pretend  to  teach 
them  the  science  of  geology.  But  William  Smith  had  an 
eye  and  mind  to  penetrate  deep  beneath  the  skin  of  the 
earth ;  he  saw  its  very  fibre  and  skeleton,  and  as  it  were 
divined  its  organization.  His  knowledge  of  the  strata 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Bath  was  so  accurate,  that  one 
evening,  when  dining  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Townsend,  he  dictated  to  Mr.  Richardson  the  different 
strata  according  to  their  order  of  succession  in  descend- 
ing order,  twenty-three  in  number,  commencing  with  the 
chalk  and  descending  in  continuous  series  down  to  the 
coal,  below  which  the  strata  were  not  then  sufficiently 
determined.  To  this  was  added  a  list  of  the  more  re- 
markable fossils  which  had  been  gathered  in  the  several 
layers  of  rock.  This  was  printed  and  extensively  circu- 
lated in  1801. 

He  next  determined  to  trace  out  the  strata  through 
districts  as  remote  from  Bath  as  his  means  would  enable 
him  to  reach.  For  years  he  journeyed  to  and  fro,  some- 
times on  foot,  sometimes  on  horseback,  riding  upon  the  tops 
of  stage-coaches,  often  making  up  by  night  travelling  the 
time  he  had  lost  by  day,  so  as  not  to  fail  in  his  ordi- 
nary business  engagements.  When  he  was  profession- 
ally called  away  to  any  distance  from  home,  —  as  for 
instance,  when  travelling  from  Bath  to  Holkham,  in  Nor- 
folk, to  direct  the  irrigation  and  drainage  of  Mr.  Coke  s 
land  in  that  county,  —  he  rode  on  horseback,  making  fre- 
quent detours  from  the  road  to  note  the  geological  fea- 
'ures  of  the  country  which  he  traversed. 

For  several  years  he  was  thus  engaged  in  his  journeys 
to  distant  quarters  in  England  and  Ireland,  to  the  extent  of 
upwards  of  ten  thousand  miles  yearly ;  and  it  was  amidst 


128  WILLIAM  SMITH,  THE  GEOLOGIST.     CHAP.  IV. 

this  incessant  and  laborious  travelling,  that  he  contrived 
to  commit  to  paper  his  fast-growing  generalizations  on 
what  he  rightly  regarded  as  a  new  science.  No  obser- 
vation, howsoever  trivial  it  might  appear,  was  neglected, 
and  no  opportunity  of  collecting  fresh  facts  was  over- 
looked. Whenever  he  could,  he  possessed  himself  of 
records  of  borings,  natural  and  artificial  sections,  drew 
them  to  a  constant  scale  of  eight  yards  to  the  inch,  and 
colored  them  up.  Of  his  keenness  of  observation  take 
the  following  illustration.  When  making  one  of  his  geo- 
logical excursions  about  the  country  near  Wobura  as 
he  was  drawing  near  to  the  foot  of  the  Dunstable  chalk 
hills,  he  observed  to  his  companion,  "If  there  be  any 
broken  ground  about  the  foot  of  these  hills,  we  may  find 
sharks'  teeth;"  and  they  had  not  proceeded  far,  before 
they  picked  up  six  from  the  white  bank  of  a  new  fence- 
ditch.  As  he  afterwards  said  of  himself,  "  The  habit  of 
observation  crept  on  me,  gained  a  settlement  in  my  mind, 
became  a  constant  associate  of  my  life,  and  started  up  in 
activity  at  the  first  thoughts  of  a  journey ;  so  that  I  gen- 
erally went  off  well  prepared  with  maps,  and  sometimes 
with  contemplations  on  its  objects,  or  on  those  on  the 
road,  reduced  to  writing  before  it  commenced.  My  mind 
was,  therefore,  like  the  canvas  of  a  painter,  well  prepared 
for  the  first  and  best  impressions." 

Notwithstanding  his  courageous  and  indefatigable  in- 
dustry, many  circumstances  contributed  to  prevent  the 
promised  publication  of  William  Smith's  "  Map  of  the 
Strata  of  England  and  Wales,"  and  it  was  not  until  1814 
that  he  was  enabled,  by  the  assistance  of  some  friends,  to 
give  to  the  world  the  fruits  of  his  twenty  years'  incessant 
labor.  To  prosecute  his  inquiries  and  collect  the  exten- 
sive series  of  facts  and  observations  requisite  for  his  pur- 


CHAP.  IV.     WILLIAM  SMITH,  THE  GEOLOGIST.  129 

pose,  he  had  to  devote  the  profits  of  all  his  professional 
labors  during  that  period;  he  even  sold  off  his  small 
property  to  obtain  the  means  of  visiting  remote  parts  of 
the  island.  He  had  also  entered  on  a  quarrying  specula- 
tion near  Bath,  which  proved  unsuccessful,  and  he  was 
under  the  necessity  of  even  selling  off  his  valuable  geo- 
logical collection  (which  was  purchased  by  the  British 
Museum),  his  furniture,  and  library,  reserving  only  his 
papers,  maps,  and  sections,  which  were  useless  save  to 
himself.  He  bore  his  losses  and  misfortunes  with  exem- 
plary fortitude ;  and  amidst  all,  he  went  on  working  with 
cheerful  courage  and  untiring  patience.  The  later  years 
of  his  life  were  spent  in  engineering  and  surveying  pur- 
suits in  the  north  of  England,  acting  also  as  land-steward 
to  Sir  J.  V.  B.  Johnstone,  of  Hackness,  near  Scarbor- 
ough. He  died  at  Northampton,  in  August,  1839,  while 
on  his  way  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Birmingham. 

It  is  difficult  to  speak  in  terms  of  too  high  praise  of 
the  first  geological  map  of  England,  which  we  owe  to 
the  industry  of  this  courageous  man  of  science.  An  ac- 
complished writer  says  of  it,  "  It  was  a  work  so  masterly 
in  conception  and  so  correct  in  general  outline,  that  in 
principle  it  served  as  a  basis  not  only  for  the  production 
of  later  maps  of  the  British  Islands,  but  for  geological 
maps  of  all  other  parts  of  the  world,  wherever  they  have 
been  undertaken.  In  the  apartments  of  the  Geological 
Society,  Smith's  map  may  yet  be  seen,  —  a  great  histori- 
cal document,  old  and  worn,  calling  for  renewal  of  its 
faded  tints.  Let  any  one  conversant  with  the  subject 
compare  it  with  later  works  on  a  similar  scale,  and  he 
will  find  that  in  all  essential  features  it  will  not  suffer  by 
the  comparison,  —  the  intricate  anatomy  of  the  Silurian 
6* 


130  HUGH  MILLER,  THE  GEOLOGIST.        CHAP.  IV. 

rocks  of  Wales  and  the  north  of  England  by  Murchison 
and  Sedgwick  being  the  chief  additions  made  to  his  great 
generalizations."  *  But  the  genius  of  the  Oxfordshire 
surveyor  did  not  fail  to  be  duly  recognized  and  honored 
by  men  of  science  during  his  lifetime.  In  1831  the 
Geological  Society  of  London  awarded  to  him  the  Wol- 
laston  medal,  "  in  consideration  of  his  being  a  great  orig- 
inal discoverer  in  English  geology,  and  especially  for 
his  being  the  first  in  this  country  to  discover  and  to  teach 
the  identification  of  strata,  and  to  determine  their  succes- 
sion by  means  of  their  embedded  fossils."  William  Smith, 
in  his  simple  earnest  way,  gained  for  himself  a  name  as 
lasting  as  the  science  he  loved  so  well.  To  use  the  words 
of  the  writer  above  quoted,  "  Till  the  manner  as  well  as 
the  fact  of  the  first  appearance  of  successive  forms  of 
life  shall  be  solved,  it  is  not  easy  to  surmise  how  any 
discovery  can  be  made  in  geology  equal  in  value  to  that 
which  we  owe  to  the  genius  of  William  Smith." 

Hugh  Miller  was  a  man  of  similar  calibre,  of  equally 
simple  tastes  and  observant  faculties,  who  also  success- 
fully devoted  himself  to  geological  pursuits.  The  book 
in  which  he  has  himself  told  the  story  of  his  life,  ("  My 
Schools  and  Schoolmasters,")  is  extremely  interesting, 
and  calculated  to  be  eminently  useful.  It  is  the  history 
of  the  formation  of  a  truly  noble  and  independent  char- 
acter in  the  humblest  condition  of  life,  —  the  condition  in 
which  a  large  mass  of  the  people  of  this  country  are 
born  and  brought  up ;  and  it  teaches  all,  but  especially 
poor  men,  what  it  is  in  the  power  of  each  to  accomplish 
for  himself.  The  life  of  Hugh  Miller  is  full  of  lessons 
of  self-help  and  self-respect,  and  shows  the  efficacy  of 
these  in  working  out  for  a  man  an  honorable  competence 
*  Saturday  Review,  July  3d,  1898. 


CHAP.  IV.        HUGH  MILLER,  THE  GEOLOGIST.  131 

and  a  solid  reputation.  His  father  was  drowned  at  sea 
when  he  was  but  a  child,  and  he  was  left  to  be  brought 
up  by  his  widowed  mother.  He  had  a  school  training 
after  a  sort,  but  his  best  teachers  were  the  boys  with 
whom  he  played,  the  men  amongst  whom  he  worked, 
and  the  friends  and  relatives  with  whom  he  lived.  He 
read  much  and  miscellaneously,  and  gleaned  pickings  of 
odd  knowledge  from  many  odd  quarters,  —  from  work- 
men, carpenters,  fishermen,  and  sailors,  old  women,  and 
above  all,  from  the  old  boulders  strewed  along  the  shores 
of  the  Cromarty  Frith.  With  a  big  hammer  which  had  be- 
longed to  his  great-grandfather,  an  old  buccaneer,  the  boy 
went  about  chipping  the  stones,  and  thus  early  accumu- 
lating specimens  of  mica,  porphyry,  garnet,  and  such  like. 
Sometimes  he  had  a  day  in  the  woods,  and  there,  too, 
the  boy's  attention  was  excited  by  the  peculiar  geological 
curiosities  which  lay  in  his  way.  While  searching  among 
the  stones  and  rocks  on  the  beach,  he  was  sometimes 
asked  in  humble  irony,  by  the  farm-servants  who  came 
to  load  their  carts  with  sea-weed,  whether  he  "  was  gettin' 
siller  in  the  stanes,"  but  was  so  unlucky  as  never  to  be 
able  to  answer  their  question  in  the  affirmative.  His 
uncles  were  anxious  that  he  should  become  a  minister ; 
for  it  is  the  ambition  of  many  of  the  aspiring  Scotch  poor, 
to  see  one  of  their  family  "  wag  his  pow  in  a  poopit." 
These  kind  uncles  were  even  willing  to  pay  his  college 
expenses,  though  the  labor  of  their  hands  formed  their 
only  wealth.  The  youth,  however,  had  conscientious 
objections :  he  did  not  feel  called  to  the  ministry ;  and 
the  uncles,  confessing  that  he  was  right,  gave  up  their 
point.  Hugh  was  accordingly  apprenticed  to  the  trade 
of  his  choice,  —  that  of  a  working  stonemason ;  and  he 
began  his  laboring  career  in  a  quarry  looking  out  upon 


132  HUGH  MILLER,  THE  GEOLOGIST.        CHAP.  IV- 

the  Cromarty  Frith.  This  quarry  proved  one  of  Hs  best 
schools.  The  remarkable  geological  formations  which  it 
displayed  awakened  his  curiosity.  The  bar  04  deep-red 
stone  beneath,  and  the  bar  of  pale-red  clay  aoove,  were 
noted  by  the  young  quarryman,  who  even  in  such  un- 
promising subjects  found  matter  for  observation  and  re- 
flection. Where  other  men  saw  nothing,  he  detected 
analogies,  differences,  and  peculiarities,  which  set  him 
a-thinking.  He  simply  kept  his  eyes  and  his  mind  open  ; 
was  sober,  diligent,  and  persevering ;  and  this  was  the 
secret  of  his  intellectual  growth. 

His  curiosity  was  excited  and  kept  alive  by  the  curious 
organic  remains,  principally  of  old  and  extinct  species  of 
fishes,  ferns,  and  ammonites,  which  lay  revealed  along 
the  coasts  by  the  washings  of  the  waves,  or  were  ex- 
posed by  the  stroke  of  his  mason's  hammer.  He  never 
lost  sight  of  this  subject ;  went  on  accumulating  observa- 
tions, comparing  formations,  until  at  length,  when  no 
longer  a  working  mason,  many  years  afterwards,  he  gave 
to  the  world  his  highly  interesting  work  on  the  Old  Red 
Sandstone,  which  at  once  established  his  reputation  as  a 
scientific  geologist.  But  this  work  was  the  fruit  of  long 
years  of  patient  observation  and  research.  As  he  mod- 
estly states  in  his  autobiography,  "  the  only  merit  to  which 
I  lay  claim  in  the  case  is  that  of  patient  research,  —  a 
merit  in  which  whoever  wills  may  rival  or  surpass  me ; 
and  this  humble  faculty  of  patience,  when  rightly  devel- 
oped, may  lead  to  more  extraordinary  developments  of 
idea  than  even  genius  itself." 

The  late  John  Brown,  the  eminent  English  geologist, 
was,  like  Miller,  a  stone-mason  in  his  early  life,  serving  an 
apprenticeship  to  the  trade  at  Colchester,  and  afterwards 
working  as  a  journeyman  mason  at  Norwich.  He  after- 


CHAP.  IV.       JOHN  BROWN,  THE  GEOLOGIST  133 

wards  commenced  business  as  a  builder  on  his  own  account 
at  Colchester,  where  by  frugality  and  industry  he  secured 
an  independency.  It  was  while  working  at  his  trade  that 
his  attention  was  first  drawn  to  the  study  of  fossils  and 
shells ;  and  he  proceeded  to  make  a  collection  of  them, 
which  afterwards  grew  into  one  of  the  finest  in  England. 
His  researches  along  the  coasts  of  Essex,  Kent,  and  Sus- 
sex brought  to  light  some  magnificent  remains  of  the 
elephant  and  rhinoceros,  the  most  valuable  of  which  were 
presented  by  him  to  the  British  Museum.  During  the 
last  few  years  of  his  life  he  devoted  considerable  attention 
to  the  study  of  the  Foraminifera  in  chalk,  respecting  which 
he  made  several  interesting  discoveries.  His  life  was  use- 
ful, happy,  and  honored  ;  and  he  died  at  Stanway,  in 
Essex,  in  November  1859,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty  years. 
Sir  Roderick  Murchison  is  another  illustrious  pursuer 
of  ths  same  branch  of  science.  A  writer  in  the  "  Quar- 
terly Review  "  cites  him  as  "  a  singular  instance  of  a 
man  who,  having  passed  the  early  part  of  his  life  as  a 
soldier,  never  having  had  the  advantage,  or  disadvantage 
as  the  case  might  have  been,  of  a  scientific  training,  in- 
stead of  remaining  a  fox-hunting  country  gentleman,  has 
succeeded  by  his  own  native  vigor  and  sagacity,  untiring 
industry  and  zeal,  in  making  for  himself  a  scientific  repu- 
tation that  is  as  wide  as  it  is  likely  to  be  lasting.  He 
took  first  of  all  an  unexplored  and  difficult  district  at 
home,  and,  by  the  labor  of  many  years,  examined  its 
rock-formations,  classed  them  in  natural  groups,  assigned 
to  each  its  characteristic  assemblage  of  fossils,  and  was 
the  first  to  decipher  two  great  chapters  in  the  world's 
geological  history,  which  must  always  henceforth  carry 
his  name  on  their  title-page.  Not  only  so,  but  he  ap- 
plied the  knowledge  thus  acquired  to  the  dissection  of 


134  SIR  RODERICK  MURCHISON.  CHAP.  IV. 

large  districts,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  so  as  to  become 
the  geological  discoverer  of  great  countries  which  had 
formerly  been  '  terrae  incognitae.' "  But  Sir  Roderick 
Murchison  is  not  merely  a  geologist.  His  indefatigable 
labors  in  many  branches  of  knowledge,  have  contributed 
to  render  him  among  the  most  accomplished  and  complete 
of  scientific  men. 


CHAP.  V.  FORCE  OF  INDUSTRY. 


CHAPTER  V. 

WORKERS   IN   ART. 

"  If  what  shone  afar  so  grand, 
Turn  to  nothing  in  thy  hand, 
On  again,  the  virtue  lies 
In  the  struggle,  not  the  prize."  —  R.  M.  Mines. 

SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS  was  such  a  believer  in  the 
force  of  industry,  that  he  held  that  excellence  in  art, 
"however  expressed  by  genius,  taste,  or  the  gift  of 
heaven,  may  be  acquired."  Writing  to  Barry  he  said, 
"  Whoever  is  resolved  to  excel  in  painting,  or  indeed  any 
other  art,  must  bring  all  his  mind  to  bear  upon  that  one 
object  from  the  moment  that  he  rises  till  he  goes  to  bed." 
And  on  another  occasion  he  said,  "  Those  who  are  re- 
solved to  excel  must  go  to  their  work,  willing  or  unwill- 
ing, morning,  noon,  and  night ;  they  will  find  it  no  play, 
but  very  hard  labor."  But  although  diligent  application 
is  no  doubt  absolutely  necessary  for  the  achievement  of 
the  highest  distinction  in  art,  it  is  equally  true  that  with- 
out the  inherent  faculty,  no  mere  amount  of  industry, 
however  well  applied,  will  make  an  artist.  The  gift 
comes  by  nature,  but  is  perfected  by  self-culture,  which 
is  of  much  more  avail  than  the  imparted  education  of 
the  schools. 

It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  the  most  distinguished 
artists  of  our  own  country  have  not  been  born  in  an  ar- 
tistic sphere,  or  in  a  position  of  life  more  than  ordinarily 


136  EMINENT  ARTISTS  HARD  WORKERS.      CHAP.  V. 

favorable  to  the  culture  of  artistic  genius.  They  have 
nearly  all  had  to  force  their  way  upward  in  the  face  of 
poverty  and  manifold  obstructions.  Thus  Gainsborough 
and  Bacon  were  the  sons  of  cloth-workers;  Barry  was 
an  Irish  sailor-boy,  and  Maclise  a  banker's  apprentice  at 
Cork  ;  Opie  and  Romney,  like  Inigo  Jones,  were  carpen- 
ters; West  was  the  son  of  a  small  Quaker  farmer  in 
Pennsylvania  ;  Northcote  was  a  watchmaker ;  Jackson  a 
tailor,  and  Etty  a  printer ;  Reynolds,  Wilson,  and  Wilkie, 
were  the  sons  of  clergymen ;  Lawrence  was  the  son  of  a 
publican,  and  Turner  of  a  barber.  Several  of  our  paint- 
ers, it  is  true,  originally  had  some  connection  with  art, 
though  in  a  very  humble  way,  —  such  as  Flaxman, 
whose  father  sold  plaster  casts ;  Bird,  who  ornamented 
tea-trays ;  Martin,  who  was  a  coach-painter ;  Wright 
and  Gilpin,  who  were  ship-painters ;  Chantrey,  who  was 
a  carver  and  gilder ;  and  David  Cox,  Stanfield,  and 
Roberts,  who  were  scene-painters. 

All  these  men  achieved  distinction  in  their  several 
walks  under  circumstances  often  of  the  most  adverse 
kind.  It  was  not  by  luck  nor  accident  that  they  rose, 
but  by  sheer  industry  and  hard  work.  Though  some 
achieved  wealth,  yet  this  was  never  their  ruling  motive. 
Indeed,  no  mere  love  of  money  could  sustain  the  efforts 
of  the  artist  in  his  early  career  of  self-denial  and  ap- 
plication. The  pleasure  of  the  pursuit  has  always  been 
its  best  reward ;  the  wealth  which  followed  but  an  acci- 
dent. Many  noble-minded  artists  have  preferred  fol- 
lowing the  bent  of  their  genius,  to  chaffering  with  the 
public  for  terms.  Spagnoletto  verified  in  his  life  the 
beautiful  fiction  of  Xenophon,  and  after  he  had  acquired 
the  means  of  luxury,  preferred  withdrawing  himself  from 
their  influence,  and  voluntarily  returned  to  poverty  and 


CHAP.  V.        INDUSTRY   OF  MICHAEL  ANGELO.  137 

labor.  When  Michael  Angelo  was  asked  his  opinion  re- 
specting a  work  which  a  painter  had  taken  great  pains  to 
exhibit  for  profit,  he  said,  "  I  think  that  he  will  be  a  poor 
fellow  so  long  as  he  shows  such  an  extreme  eagerness  to 
become  rich." 

Like  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Michael  Angelo  was  a 
great  believer  in  the  force  of  labor ;  and  he  held  that 
there  was  nothing  which  the  imagination  conceived,  that 
could  not  be  embodied  in  marble,  if  the  hand  were  made 
vigorously  to  obey  the  mind.  He  was  himself  one  of  the 
most  indefatigable  of  workers ;  and  he  attributed  his 
power  of  studying  for  a  greater  number  of  hours  than 
most  of  his  contemporaries,  to  his  spare  habits  of  living. 
A  little  bread  and  wine  was  all  he  required  for  the  chief 
part  of  the  day  when  employed  at  his  work ;  and  very 
frequently  he  rose  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  resume 
his  labors.  On  these  occasions,  it  was  his  practice  to  fix 
the  candle,  by  the  light  of  which  he  worked,  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  pasteboard  cap  which  he  wore.  Sometimes  he 
was  too  wearied  to  undress,  and  he  slept  in  his  clothes, 
ready  to  spring  to  his  work  so  soon  as  refreshed  by  sleep 
He  had  a  favorite  device  of  an  old  man  in  a  go-cart,  witb 
an  hour-glass  upon  it  bearing  the  inscription,  Ancora  im 
paro  !  still  I  am  learning. 

Titian,  also,  was  an  indefatigable  worker.  His  cele- 
brated "  Pietro  Martyre "  was  eight  years  in  hand,  and 
his  "  Last  Supper  "  seven.  In  his  letter  to  Charles  V. 
he  said,  "  I  send  your  Majesty  the  '  Last  Supper '  after 
working  at  it  almost  daily  for  seven  years  —  doppo,  setU 
anni  lavorandovi  quasi  continuamente"  Few  think  of 
the  patient  labor  and  long  training  involved  in  the  great- 
est works  of  the  artist.  They  seem  easy  and  quickly 
accomplished,  yet  with  how  great  difficulty  has  this  ease 


138  WEST.  -  RICHARD  WILSON.  CHAP.  V. 

been  acquired.  "  You  charge  me  fifty  sequins,"  said  the 
Venetian  nobleman  to  the  sculptor,  "  for  a  bust  that  cost 
you  only  ten  days'  labor."  "  You  forget,"  said  the  artist, 
"  that  I  have  been  thirty  years  learning  to  make  that  bust 
in  ten  days."  Once  when  Domenichino  was  blamed  for 
his  slowness  in  finishing  a  picture  which  was  bespoken, 
he  made  answer,  "  I  am  continually  painting  it  within 
myself."  It  was  eminently  characteristic  of  the  industry 
of  the  late  Sir  Augustus  Callcott,  that  he  made  not  fewer 
than  forty  separate  sketches  in  the  composition  of  his 
famous  picture  of  "  Rochester."  This  constant  repetition 
is  one  of  the  main  conditions  of  success  in  art,  as  in  life 
itself. 

Art  is  indeed  a  long  labor,  no  matter  how  amply  na- 
ture has  bestowed  the  gift  of  the  artistic  faculty.  In 
most  cases  this  has  shown  itself  early ;  and  illustrations 
of  apparent  precocity  have  been  noted  in  the  lives  of 
most  great  artists.  The  anecdote  related  of  West  is  well 
known.  When  only  seven  years  old,  struck  with  the 
beauty  of  the  sleeping  infant  of  his  eldest  sister  whilst 
watching  by  its  cradle,  he  ran  to  seek  some  paper  and 
forthwith  drew  its  portrait  in  red  and  black  ink.  The 
little  incident  revealed  the  artist  in  him,  and  it  was  found 
impossible  to  draw  him  from  his  bent.  West  might  have 
been  a  greater  painter,  had  he  not  been  injured  by  too 
early  success  ;  his  fame,  though  great,  was  not  purchased 
oy  study,  trials,  and  difficulties,  and  it  has  not  been  en- 
during. Eichard  Wilson,  when  a  mere  child,  indulged 
himself  with  tracing  figures  of  men  and  animals  on  the 
walls  of  his  father's  house,  with  a  burnt  stick.  He  first 
directed  his  attention  to  portrait-painting ;  but  when  in 
Italy,  calling  one  day  at  the  house  of  Zucarelli,  and 
growing  weary  with  waiting,  he  began  painting  the  scene 


CHAP.  V.    REYNOLDS.- GAINSBOROUGH.  — BIRD.  139 

on  which  his  friend's  chamber-window  looked.  When 
Zucarelli  arrived,  he  was  so  charmed  with  the  picture, 
that  he  asked  if  Wilson  had  not  studied  landscape,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  had  not.  "  Then,  I  advise  you," 
said  the  other,  "  to  try ;  for  you  are  sure  of  great  suc- 
cess." Wilson  adopted  the  advice,  studied  and  worked 
hard,  and  became  our  first  great  English  landscape-paint- 
er. Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  when  a  boy,  forgot  his  lessons, 
and  took  pleasure  only  in  drawing,  for  which  his  father 
was  accustomed  to  rebuke  him.  The  boy  was  destined 
for  the  profession  of  physic,  but  his  strong  instinct  for  art 
could  not  be  repressed,  and  he  became  a  painter.  Gains- 
borough went  sketching,  when  a  school-boy,  in  the  woods 
of  Sudbury ;  and  at  twelve  he  was  a  confirmed  artist ; 
he  was  a  keen  observer  and  a  hard  worker,  —  no  pictu- 
resque feature  of  any  scene  he  had  once  looked  upon, 
escaping  his  diligent  pencil.  William  Blake,  a  hosier's 
son,  employed  himself  in  drawing  designs  on  the  backs  of 
his  father's  shopbills  and  making  sketches  on  the  count- 
er. Edward  Bird,  when  a  child  only  three  or  four  years 
old,  would  mount  a  chair  and  draw  figures  on  the  walls, 
which  he  called  French  and  English  soldiers.  A  box  of 
colors  was  purchased  for  him,  and  his  father,  desirous  of 
turning  his  love  of  art  to  account,  put  him  apprentice  to 
a  maker  of  tea-trays !  Out  of  this  trade  he  gradually 
raised  himself  by  study  and  labor,  to  the  rank  of  a  Royal 
Academician. 

Hogarth,  though  a  very  dull  boy  at  his  lessons,  took 
pleasure  in  making  drawings  of  the  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet, and  his  school  exercises  were  more  remarkable  for 
the  ornaments  with  which  he  embellished  them,  than  for 
the  matter  of  the  exercises  themselves.  In  the  latter 
respect  he  was  beaten  by  all  the  blockheads  of  the  school. 


140  HOGAETH'S  CLOSE  OBSERVATION.       CHAP.  V. 

but  in  his  adornments  he  stood  alone.  His  father  put  him 
apprentice  to  a  silversmith,  where  he  learned  to  draw, 
and  also  to  engrave  spoons  and  forks  with  crests  and 
ciphers  ;  from  silver-chasing,  he  went  on  to  teach  himself 
to  engrave  on  copper,  principally  griffins  and  monsters  of 
heraldry;  in  the  course  of  which  practice  he  became 
ambitious  to  delineate  the  varieties  of  human  character. 
The  singular  excellence  which  he  reached  in  this  art,  was 
mainly  the  result  of  careful  observation  and  study.  He 
had  the  gift,  which  he  sedulously  cultivated,  of  committing 
to  memory  the  precise  features  of  any  remarkable  face, 
and  afterwards  reproducing  it  on  paper ;  but  if  any  sh> 
gularly  fantastic  form  or  outre  face  came  in  his  way,  he 
would  make  a  sketch  of  it  on  the  spot,  upon  his  thumb- 
nail, and  carry  it  home  to  expand  at  his  leisure.  Every- 
thing fantastical  and  original  had  a  powerful  attraction 
for  him,  and  he  wandered  into  many  out-of-the-way  places 
for  the  purpose  of  meeting  with  character.  By  this  care- 
ful storing  of  his  mind,  he  was  afterwards  enabled  to 
crowd  an  immense  amount  of  thought  and  treasured  ob- 
servation into  his  works.  Hence  it  is  that  Hogarth's  pic- 
tures are  so  truthful  a  memorial  of  the  characters,  the 
manners,  and  even  the  very  thoughts  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived.  True  painting,  he  himself  observed,  can 
only  be  learned  in  one  school,  and  that  is  kept  by  Nature. 
But  he  was  not  a  highly  cultivated  man,  except  in  his 
own  walk.  His  school  education  had  been  of  the  slender- 
est kind,  scarcely  even  perfecting  him  in  the  art  of  spell- 
ing; his  self-culture  did  the  rest.  For  a  long  time  he 
was  in  very  straitened  circumstances,  but,  nevertheless, 
worked  on  with  a  cheerful  heart.  Poor  though  he  was, 
he  contrived  to  live  within  his  small  means,  and  he 
boasted,  with  becoming  pride,  that  he  was  "a  punctual 


CHAI-.  V.  BANKS  AND  MULREADY,  141 

paymaster."  When  he  had  conquered  all  his  difficulties 
and  become  a  famous  and  thriving  man,  he  loved  to  dwell 
upon  his  early  labors  and  privations,  and  to  fight  over 
again  the  battle  which  ended  so  honorably  to  him  as  a 
man  and  so  gloriously  as  an  artist.  "I  remember  the 
time,"  said  he  on  one  occasion,  "  when  I  have  gone 
moping  into  the  city  with  scarce  a  shilling,  but  as  soon 
as  I  have  received  ten  guineas  there  for  a  plate,  I  have 
returned  home,  put  on  my  sword,  and  sallied  out  with 
all  the  confidence  of  a  man  who  had  thousands  in  his 
pockets." 

"  Industry  and  Perseverance "  was  the  motto  of  the 
sculptor  Banks,  which  he  acted  on  himself,  and  strongly 
recommended  to  others.  His  well-known  kindness  in- 
duced many  aspiring  youths  to  call  upon  him  and  ask  for 
his  advice  and  assistance  ;  and  it  is  related  that  one  day 
a  boy  called  at  his  door  to  see  him  with  this  object,  but 
the  servant,  angry  at  the  loud  knock  he  had  given,  scolded 
him,  and  was  about  sending  him  away,  when  Banks  over- 
hearing her,  himself  went  out.  The  little  boy  stood  at 
the  door  with  some  drawings  in  his  hand.  "  What  do 
you  want  with  me  ?  "  asked  the  sculptor.  "  I  want,  sir, 
if  you  please,  to  be  admitted  to  draw  at  the  Academy." 
Banks  explained  that  he  himself  could  not  procure  his 
admission,  but  he  asked  to  look  at  the  boy's  drawings. 
Examining  them,  he  said,  "  Time  enough  for  the  Acad- 
emy, my  little  man  !  go  home,  —  mind  your  schooling,  — 
try  to  make  a  better  drawing  of  the  Apollo,  —  and  in  a 
month  come  again  and  let  me  see  it."  The  boy  went 
home,  —  sketched  and  worked  with  redoubled  diligence,  — 
and,  at  the  end  of  the  month,  called  again  on  the  sculptor. 
The  drawing  was  better,  but  again  Banks  sent  him  back, 
with  good  advice,  to  work  and  study.  In  a  week  the  boy 


1*2  EARLY  STRUGGLES  OF  NOLLEKENS.    CHAP.  V. 

was  again  at  his  door ;  his  drawing  much  improved  ;  and 
Banks  bid  him  be  of  good  cheer,  for  if  spared  he  would 
distinguish  himself.  The  boy  was  Mulready ;  and  the 
sculptor's  augury  was  amply  fulfilled. 

Though  Nollekens  came  of  a  family  of  artists,  his 
father  died  so  young,  and  he  was  left  so  destitute,  that  it 
was  necessary  for  him  to  fight  his  own  way  in  the  world 
inch  by  inch.  He  had  not  much  school  education,  could 
read  indifferently,  and  had  little  knowledge  of  spelling  or 
grammar ;  yet  he  became  a  successful,  if  not  a  great, 
artist.  He  was  taken  into  the  shop  of  an  obscure  sculp- 
tor, Scheemakers,  and  while  laboring  late  and  early  at 
his  favorite  art,  he  ran  errands  during  the  day,  being 
often  employed,  because  of  his  carefulness,  to  carry  pots 
of  porter  for  his  master's  maids  on  washing-days,  — 
"  creeping  slowly  along,"  as  he  afterwards  described,  "  to 
save  the  head  of  foam,  that  the  lasses  might  taste  it  in 
all  its  strength."  As  he  grew  in  knowledge  of  his  art, 
he  competed  for  the  Society  of  Arts'  prizes,  and  won  them 
in  two  successive  years.  Determined  to  visit  Rome,  he 
journeyed  thither  in  the  humblest  style  possible,  and 
reached  the  Eternal  City  with  only  twenty  guineas  in  his 
pocket,  without  a  friend.  But  he  set  to  work  with  a  will ; 
he  first  earned  ten  guineas  for  a  bas-relief  carved  in  stone, 
and  the  year  following  he  was  voted  fifty  guineas  by  the 
Society  of  Arts  for  a  marble  group.  Garrick  and  Sterne 
both  sat  to  him  for  their  busts  at  Rome,  which  brought 
him  more  guineas,  and,  what  was  better  for  him,  reputa- 
tion ;  and  when  he  returned  to  London  to  commence 
business,  he  had  already  accumulated  a  little  store  of 
capital,  —  for  his  privations  as  a  youth  had  early  forced 
him  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  economy.  He  improved  as 
an  artist,  and  Dr.  Johnson,  of  whom  he  executed  a  capital 


CHAP  V.  JOHN  FLAXMAN,  THE  BOY.  143 

bust,  once  said  of  him,  "My  friend  Joe  Nollekens  can 
chop  out  a  head  with  any  of  them."  Yet  Nollekens  was 
no  genius,  for  his  biographers  confess  that  all  which  he 
accomplished  canie  by  painful  labor  and  incessant  dili- 
gence. 

John  Flaxman  was  a  true  genius,  —  one  of  the  great- 
est artists  England  has  yet  produced.  He  was  besides  a 
person  of  beautiful  character,  his  life  furnishing  many 
salutary  lessons  for  men  of  all  ranks.  Flaxman  was  the 
son  of  a  humble  seller  of  plaster  casts  in  New  Street, 
Covent  Garden  ;  and  when  a  child,  he  was  so  constant  an 
invalid  that  it  was  his  custom  to  sit  behind  the  shop 
counter  propped  by  pillows,  amusing  himself  with  draw- 
ing and  reading.  A  benevolent  clergyman,  named  Mat- 
thews, one  day  calling  at  the  shop,  found  the  boy  trying 
to  read  a  book,  and  on  inquiring  what  it  was,  found  it 
was  a  Cornelius  Nepos,  which  his  father  had  picked  up 
for  a  few  pence  at  a  bookstall.  The  gentleman,  after 
some  conversation  with  the  boy,  said  that  was  not  the 
proper  book  for  him  to  read,  but  that  he  would  bring  him 
a  right  one  on  the  morrow ;  and  the  kind  man  was  as 
good  as  his  word.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Matthews  used  after- 
wards to  say,  that  from  that  casual  interview  with  the 
cripple  little  invalid  behind  the  plaster-cast  seller's  shop 
counter,  began  an  acquaintance  which  ripened  into  one 
of  the  best  friendships  of  his  life.  He  brought  several 
books  to  the  boy,  amongst  which  were  Homer  and  "  Don 
Quixote,"  in  both  of  which  Flaxman  then  and  ever  after 
took  immense  delight.  His  mind  was  soon  full  of  the 
heroism  which  breathed  through  the  pages  of  the  former 
work,  and,  with  the  stucco  Ajaxes  and  Achilleses  about 
him,  looming  along  the  shop  shelves,  the  ambition  thus 
early  took  possession  of  him,  that  he  too  would  design 


144  JOHN  FLAXMAN,  THE  STUDENT.         CHAP.  V. 

and  embody  in  poetic  forms  those  majestic  heroes.  His 
black  chalk  was  at  once  in  his  hand,  and  the  enthusiastic 
boy  labored  in  a  divine  despair  to  body  forth  in  visible 
shapes  the  actions  of  the  Greeks  and  Trojans. 

Like  all  youthful  efforts,  his  first  designs  were  crude. 
The  proud  father  one  day  showed  them  to  Roubilliac, 
the  sculptor,  who  turned  from  them  with  a  contemptuous 
"  pshaw  !  "  But  the  boy  had  the  right  stuff  in  him  ;  he 
had  industry  and  patience  ;  and  he  continued  to  labor  in- 
cessantly at  his  books  and  drawings.  He  then  tried  his 
young  powers  in  modelling  figures  in  plaster  of  Paris, 
wax,  and  clay ;  some  of  these  early  works  are  still  pre- 
served, not  because  of  their  merit,  but  because  they  are 
curious  as  the  first  healthy  efforts  of  patient  genius. 
The  boy  was  long  before  he  could  walk,  and  he  only 
learned  to  do  so  by  hobbling  along  upon  crutches.  Hence 
he  could  not  accompany  his  father  to  see  the  procession 
at  the  coronation  of  George  III.,  but  he  entreated  his 
father  to  bring  him  back  one  of  the  coronation  medals 
which  were  to  be  distributed  amongst  the  crowd.  The 
pressure  was  too  great  to  enable  the  father  to  obtain 
one  in  the  scramble,  but,  not  to  disappoint  the  little  in- 
valid, he  obtained  a  plated  button  bearing  the  stamp  of  a 
horse  and  jockey,  which  he  presented  to  his  son  as  the 
coronation  medal.  His  practice  at  this  time  was  to  make 
impressions  of  all  seals  and  medals  that  pleased  him ; 
and  it  was  for  this  that  he  so  much  coveted  the  medal. 

His  physical  health  improving,  the  little  Flaxman  then 
threw  away  his  crutches.  The  kind  Mr.  Matthews  in- 
vited him  to  his  house,  where  his  wife  explained  Homer 
and  Milton  to  him.  They  helped  him  also  in  his  self- 
culture, —  giving  him  lessons  in  Greek  and  Latin,  the 
study  of  which  he  prosecuted  at  home.  When  under 


CHAP.  V.         FLAXMAN'S  FIRST  COMMISSION.  145 

Mrs.  Matthews,  he  also  attempted  with  his  bit  of  charcoal 
to  embody  in  outline  on  paper  such  passages  as  struck 
his  fancy.  His  drawings  could  not,  however,  have  been 
very  extraordinary,  for  when  he  showed  a  drawing  of  an 
eye  which  he  had  made  to  Mortimer,  the  artist,  that 
gentleman  with  affected  surprise  exclaimed,  "Is  it  an 
oyster  ? "  The  sensitive  boy  was  much  hurt,  and  for  a 
time  took  care  to  avoid  showing  his  drawings  to  artists, 
who,  though  a  thin-skinned  race,  are  sometimes  disposed 
to  be  very  savage  in  their  criticisms  on  others.  At 
length,  by  dint  of  perseverance  and  study,  his  drawing 
improved  so  much  that  Mrs.  Matthews  obtained  a  com- 
mission for  him  from  a  lady,  to  draw  six  original  draw- 
ings in  black  chalk  of  subjects  in  Homer.  His  first  com- 
mission !  A  great  event  that  in  the  boy's  life.  A  sur- 
geon's first  fee,  a  lawyer's  first  retainer,  a  legislator's  first 
speech,  a  singer's  first  appearance  behind  the  foot-lights, 
an  author's  first  book,  are  not  any  of  them  more  full  of 
interest  to  the  individual  than  the  artist's  first  commis- 
sion. The  boy  duly  executed  the  order,  and  was  both 
well  praised  and  well  paid  for  his  work. 

At  fifteen  Flaxman  entered  a  student  at  the  Royal 
Academy.  He  might  then  be  seen  principally  in  the 
company  of  Blake  and  Stothard,  young  men  of  kindred 
tastes  and  genius,  gentle  and  amiable,  yet  ardent  in  their 
love  of  art.  Notwithstanding  his  retiring  disposition, 
Flaxman  soon  became  known  among  the  students,  and 
great  things  were  expected  of  him.  Nor  were  their  ex- 
pectations disappointed :  iff  his  fifteenth  year  he  gained 
the  silver  prize,  and  next  year  he  became  a  candidate  for 
the  gold  one.  Everybody  prophesied  that  he  would 
carry  off  the  medal,  for  there  was  none  who  surpassed 
him  in  ability  and  industry.  The  youth  did  his  best,  and 
7 


146  WEDGWOOD  AND  FLAXMAN.  CHAP.  V 

in  his  after-life  honestly  affirmed  that  he  deserved  the 
prize,  but  he  lost  it,  and  the  gold  medal  was  adjudged  to 
Engleheart,  who  was  not  afterwards  heard  of.  This 
failure  on  the  part  of  the  youth  was  really  of  service  to 
him  ;  for  defeats  do  not  long  cast  down  the  resolute- 
hearted,  but  only  serve  to  call  forth  their  real  powers. 
"  Give  me  time,"  said  he  to  his  father,  "  and  I  will  yet 
produce  works  that  the  Academy  will  be  proud  to  recog- 
nize." He  redoubled  his  efforts,  spared  no  pains,  designed 
and  modelled  incessantly,  and  consequently  made  steady 
if  not  rapid  progress.  But  meanwhile  poverty  threatened 
his  father's  household ;  the  plaster-cast  trade  yielded  a 
very  bare  living  ;  and  young  Flaxman,  with  resolute 
self-denial,  curtailed  his  hours  of  study,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  helping  his  father  in  the  humble  details  of  his 
business.  He  laid  aside  his  Homer  to  take  up  the  plaster- 
trowel.  He  was  willing  to  work  in  the  humblest  depart- 
ment of  the  trade  so  that  his  father's  family  might  be 
supported,  and  the  wolf  kept  from  the  door.  To  this 
drudgery  of  his  art  he  served  a  long  apprenticeship ;  but 
it  did  him  good.  It  familiarized  him  with  steady  work, 
and  cultivated  in  him  the  spirit  of  patience.  The  disci- 
pline may  have  been  rough,  but  it  was  wholesome. 

Happily,  young  Flaxman's  skill  in  design  had  reached 
the  knowledge  of  Mr.  Wedgwood,  who  sought  him  out 
for  the  purpose  of  employing  him  in  designing  improved 
patterns  of  china  and  earthenware  to  be  produced  at  his 
manufactory.  It  may  seem  a  humble  department  of  art 
for  Flaxman  to  have  labored  in  ;  but  it  really  was  not  so. 
An  artist  may  be  laboring  truly  in  his  vocation  while  de- 
signing even  so  common  an  article  as  a  teapot  or  a  water- 
jug  ;  articles  which  are  in  daily  use  amongst  the  people, 
and  are  before  their  eyes  at  every  meal,  may  be  made 


CHAP.  V.  FLAXMAN  AND  WEDGWOOD.  147 

the  vehicles  of  art-education  to  all  and  minister  to  their 
highest  culture.  The  most  ambitious  artist  may  thus 
confer  a  greater  practical  benefit  on  his  countrymen  than 
by  executing  an  elaborate  work  which  he  may  sell  foi 
thousands  of  pounds,  to  be  placed  in  some  wealthy  man's 
gallery,  where  it  is  hidden  away  from  public  sight.  Be- 
fore Wedgwood's  time  the  designs  which  figured  upon 
our  china  and  stoneware  were  hideous  both  in  drawing  and 
execution,  and  he  determined  to  improve  both.  Finding 
out  Flaxman,  he  said  to  him  :  "  Well,  my  lad,  I  have 
heard  that  you  are  a  good  draughtsman  and  clever  de- 
signer. I'm  a  manufacturer  of  pots,  —  name  Wedgwood. 
Now,  I  want  you  to  design  some  models  for  me,  —  noth- 
ing fantastic,  but  simple,  tasteful,  and  correct  in  drawing. 
I'll  pay  you  well.  You  don't  think  the  work  beneath 
you  ?  "  "  By  no  means,  sir,"  replied  Flaxman,  u  indeed, 
the  work  is  quite  to  my  taste.  Give  me  a  few  days,  — 
call  again,  and  you  will  see  what  I  can  do."  "That's 
right,  —  work  away.  Mind,  I  am  in  want  of  them  now. 
They  are  for  pots  of  all  kinds,  —  teapots,  jugs,  teacups 
and  saucers.  But  especially  I  want  designs  for  a  table- 
service.  Begin  with  that.  I  mean  to  supply  one  for  the 
royal  table.  Now,  think  of  that,  young  man.  What  you 
design  is  meant  for  the  eyes  of  royalty ! "  "I  will  do  my 
best,  sir,  I  assure  you."  And  the  kind  gentleman  bustled 
out  of  the  shop  as  he  had  come  in. 

Flaxman  did  his  best.  By  the  time  that  Mr.  Wedg- 
wood next  called  upon  him,  he  had  a  numerous  series 
of  models  prepared  for  various  pieces  of  earthenware. 
They  consisted  chiefly  of  small  groups  in  very  low  re- 
lief, —  the  subjects  taken  from  ancient  verse  and  his- 
tory. Many  of  them  are  still  in  existence,  and  some  are 
equal  in  beauty  and  simplicity  to  his  after-designs  for 


148  FLAXMAN  AND  WEDGWOOD.  CHAP.  V 

marble.  The  celebrated  Etruscan  vases,  many  of  which 
were  to  be  found  in  public  museums  and  in  the  cabinets 
of  the  curious,  furnished  him  with  the  best  examples  of 
form,  and  these  he  embellished  with  his  own  elegant  de- 
vices. "  Stuart's  Athens,"  then  recently  published,  also 
furnished  him  with  specimens  of  the  purest-shaped  Greek 
utensils,  and  he  was  not  slow  to  adopt  the  best  of  them, 
and  work  them  up  into  new  and  wondrous  shapes  of  ele- 
gance and  beauty.  Flaxman  then  saw  that  he  was 
laboring  in  a  great  work,  —  no  less  than  the  promotion 
of  popular  education  ;  and  he  was  proud  in  after-life,  to 
allude  to  these  his  early  labors,  by  which  he  was  enabled 
at  the  same  time  to  cultivate  his  love  of  the  beautiful,  to 
diffuse  a  taste  for  art  among  the  people,  and  to  replenish 
his  own  purse,  while  he  promoted  the  prosperity  of  his 
friend  and  benefactor. 

Engaged  in  such  labors  as  these,  for  several  years 
Flaxman  executed  but  few  works  of  art,  and  then  at  rare 
intervals.  He  lived  a  quiet,  secluded,  and  simple  life, 
working  during  the  day,  and  sketching  and  reading  in 
the  evenings.  He  was  so  poor  that  he  had  as  yet  been 
only  able  to  find  plaster  of  Paris  for  his  works,  —  marble 
was  too  dear  a  material  for  him.  He  had  hitherto  ex- 
ecuted only  one  statue  in  the  latter  material,  and  that 
was  a  commission. 

At  length,  in  the  year  1782,  when  twenty-seven  years 
cf  age,  he  quitted  his  father's  roof  and  rented  a  small 
bxise  and  studio  in  Wardour  Street,  Soho ;  and  what 
was  more,  he  married,  —  Ann  Denman  was  the  name  of 
his  wife,  —  and  a  cheery,  brigbt-souled,  noble  woman  she 
was.  He  believed  that  in  marrying  her,  he  should  be 
able  to  work  with  an  intenser  spirit ;  for,  like  him,  she 
had  a  taste  for  poetry  and  art ;  and  besides  was  an  en- 


CHAP.  V.  FLAXMAN  AND  HIS  WIFE.  149 

thusiastic  admirer  of  her  husband's  genius.  Yet  when 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  —  himself  a  bachelor,  —  met  Flax- 
man  shortly  after  his  marriage,  he  said  to  him,  "  So, 
Flaxman,  I  am  told  you  are  married;  if  so,  sir,  I  tell 
you  you  are  ruined  for  an  artist."  Flaxman  went 
straight  home,  sat  down  beside  his  wife,  took  her  hand  in 
his,  and  said,  "  Ann,  I  am  ruined  for  an  artist."  "  How 
so,  John  ?  How  has  it  happened  ?  and  who  has  done 
it?"  "It  happened,"  he  replied,  "in  the  church,  and 
Ann  Denman  has  done  it."  He  then  told  her  of  Sir 
Joshua's  remark,  —  whose  opinion  was  well  known,  and 
had  often  been  expressed,  that  if  students  would  excel 
they  must  Dring  the  whole  powers  of  their  mind  to  bear 
upon  their  art,  from  the  moment  they  rise  until  they  go 
to  bed ;  and  also,  that  no  man  could  be  a  great  artist  un- 
less he  studied  the  grand  works  of  RafFaelle,  Michael 
Angelo,  and  others,  at  Rome  and  Florence.  "  And  I," 
said  Flaxman,  drawing  up  his  little  figure  to  its  full 
height,  "  /  would  be  a  great  artist."  "  And  a  great  artist 
you  shall  be,"  said  his  wife,  "  and  visit  Rome  too,  if  that 
be  really  necessary  to  make  you  great."  "  But  how  ? " 
asked  Flaxman.  "  Work  and  economize"  rejoined  the 
brave  wife ;  "  I  will  never  have  it  said  that  Ann  Denman 
ruined  John  Flaxman  for  an  artist."  And  so  it  was  de- 
termined by  the  pair  that  the  journey  to  Rome  was  to  be 
made  when  their  means  would  admit.  "  I  will  go  to 
Rome,"  said  Flaxman,  "and  show  the  President  that 
wedlock  is  for  a  man's  good  rather  than  his  harm ;  and 
you,  Ann,  shall  accompany  me." 

Patiently  and  happily  this  affectionate  couple  plodded 
on  during  five  years  in  that  humble  little  home  in  War- 
dour  Street ;  always  with  the  long  journey  to  Rome  before 
them.  It  was  never  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment,  and  not  a 


1 50  FLAXMAN  AT  ROME.  CHAP.  V. 

penny  was  uselessly  spent  that  could  be  saved  towards  the. 
necessary  expenses.  They  said  no  word  to  any  one  about 
their  project;  solicited  no  aid  from  the  Academy;  but 
trusted  only  to  their  own  patient  labor  and  love,  to  pursue 
and  achieve  their  object.  During  this  time  Flaxman  ex- 
hibited very  few  works.  He  could  not  afford  marble  to 
experiment  in  original  designs  ;  but  he  obtained  frequent 
commissions  for  monuments,  by  the  profits  of  which  he 
maintained  himself.  He  still  worked  for  the  Messrs. 
Wedgwood,  who  proved  good  paymasters  ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  he  was  thriving,  happy,  and  hopeful.  He  was  not 
a  little  respected  by  his  neighbors,  and  those  who  knew 
him  greatly  estimated  his  sincerity,  his  honesty,  and  his 
unostentatious  piety.  His  local  respectability  was  even 
such  as  to  bring  local  honors'  and  local  work  upon  him  ; 
so  much  so  that  he  was  on  one  occasion  selected  by  the 
rate-payers  to  collect  the  watch-rate  for  the  parish  of  St. 
Anne,  when  he  might  be  seen  going  about  with  an 
ink-bottle  suspended  from  his  buttonhole,  collecting  the 
money. 

At  length  Flaxman  and  his  wife,  having  thriftily  accu- 
mulated a  sufficient  store  of  savings,  set  out  for  Rome. 
Arrived  there,  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  study,  main- 
taining himself,  like  other  poor  artists,  by  making  copies 
from  the  antique.  English  visitors  sought  his  studio 
and  gave  him  commissions ;  and  it  was  then  that  he 
composed  his  beautiful  designs,  illustrative  of  Homer, 
JEschylus,  and  Dante.  The  price  paid  for  them  was 
moderate,  —  only  fifteen  shillings  apiece;  but  Flaxman 
worked  for  art  as  well  as  money  ;  and  the  beauty  of  the 
designs  brought  him  new  friends  and  patrons.  He  exe- 
cuted Cupid  and  Aurora  for  the  munificent  Thomas 
Hope,  and  the  Fury  of  Athamas  for  the  Earl  of  Bristol. 


CHAP.  V.  THE  ROFAL  ACADEMY.  151 

He  then  prepared  to  return  to  England,  his  taste  im« 
proved  and  cultivated  by  careful  study;  but  before  he 
left  Italy,  the  Academies  of  Florence  and  Carrara  recog* 
nized  his  merit  by  electing  him  a  member. 

His  fame  had  preceded  him  to  England,  and  he  soon 
found  abundant  lucrative  employment.  While  at  Rome, 
he  had  been  commissioned  to  execute  his  famous  monu- 
ment in  memory  of  Lord  Mansfield,  and  it  was  erected 
in  the  north  transept  of  Westminster  Abbey  shortly  after 
his  return.  It  stands  there  in  majestic  grandeur,  a  monu- 
ment to  the  genius  of  Flaxman  himself,  —  calm,  simple, 
and  severe.  No  wonder  that  Banks,  the  sculptor,  then 
in  the  heyday  of  his  fame,  exclaimed  when  he  saw  it, 
"This  little  man  cuts  us  all  out!" 

When  the  bigwigs  of  the  Royal  Academy  heard  of 
Flaxman's  return,  and  especially  when  they  had  an  op- 
portunity of  seeing  and  admiring  his  noble  portrait-statue 
of  Mansfield,  they  were  eager  to  have  him  enrolled 
among  their  number.  The  Royal  Academy  has  always 
had  the  art  of  running  to  the  help  of  the  strong  ;  and 
when  an  artist  has  proved  that  he  can  achieve  a  repu- 
tation without  the  Academy,  then  is  the  Academy  most 
willing  to  "  patronize  "  him.  He  allowed  his  name  to 
be  proposed  in  the  candidates'  list  of  associates,  and 
was  immediately  elected.  His  progress  was  now  rapid, 
and  he  was  constantly  employed.  Perseverance  and 
study,  which  had  matured  his  genius,  had  made  him 
great,  and  he  went  on  from  triumph  to  triumph.  But 
he  appeared  in  yet  a  new  character.  The  little  boy 
who  had  begun  his  studies  behind  the  poor  plaster- 
cast  seller's  shop-counter  in  New  Street,  Covent  Gar- 
den, was  now  a  man  of  high  intellect  and  recognized 
supremacy  in  art,  to  instruct  aspiring  students,  in  the 


152  FLAXMAN'S  MONUMENTS.  CHAP.  V. 

character  of  Professor  of  Sculpture  to  the  Royal  Acade- 
my !  And  no  man  better  deserved  to  fill  that  distin- 
guished office ;  for  none  is  so  able  to  instruct  others  as  he 
who,  for  himself  and  by  his  own  almost  unaided  efforts,  has 
learned  to  grapple  with,  and  overcome  difficulties.  The 
caustic  Fuseli  used  to  talk  of  the  lectures  as  "  sermons 
by  the  Reverend  John  Flaxman ; "  for  the  sculptor  was  a 
religious  man,  which  Fuseli  was  not.  But  Flaxman  ac- 
quitted himself  well  in  the  professorial  chair,  as  any  one 
who  reads  his  instructive  "  Lectures  on  Sculpture,"  now 
published,  may  ascertain  for  himself. 

Flaxman's  monuments  are  known  nearly  all  over  Eng- 
land. Their  mute  poetry  beautifies  most  of  our  cathe- 
drals, and  many  of  our  rural  churches.  Whatever  work 
of  this  kind  he  executed,  he  threw  a  soul  and  meaning 
into  it,  embodying  some  high  Christian  idea  of  charity, 
of  love,  of  resignation,  of  affection,  or  of  kindness.  In 
monuments  such  as  these  his  peculiar  genius  preemi- 
nently shone.  There  is  a  tenderness  and  grace  about 
them  which  no  other  artist  has  been  able  to  surpass, 
or  even  to  equal.  His  rapid  sketches  illustrative  of  thb 
Lord's  Prayer,  published  in  lithograph  some  years  ago,  ex 
hibit  this  peculiar  quality  of  his  genius  in  a  striking  light. 
In  historical  monuments,  again,  he  was  less  successful, 
though  his  monuments  to  Reynolds  and  Nelson,  in  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  are  noble  works,  which  will  always  be 
admired. 

After  a  long,  peaceful,  and  happy  life,  Flaxman  found 
himself  growing  old.  The  loss  which  he  sustained  by 
the  death  of  his  affectionate  wife  Ann,  was  a  severe 
shock  to  him  ;  but  he  survived  her  several  years,  during 
which  he  executed  his  celebrated  "  Shield  of  Achilles  " 
and  his  noble  "  Archangel  Michael  vanquishing  Satan/ 
—  perhaps  his  two  greatest  works. 


CHAP.  V.         FRANCIS  CHANTREY,  —  CARVER.  153 

Chantrey  was  a  more  robust  man,  —  every  inch  of  him 
English.  He  was  somewhat  rough,  but  hearty  in  his 
demeanor  ;  proud  of  his  successful  struggle  with  the 
difficulties  which  beset  him  in  early  life ;  and,  above  all, 
proud  of  his  independence.  He  was  born  a  poor  man's 
child,  at  Norton,  near  Sheffield.  His  father  dying  when 
he  was  a  mere  boy,  his  mother  married  again.  Young 
Chantrey  used  to  drive  an  ass  laden  with  milk-cans 
across  its  back  into  the  neighboring  town  of  Sheffield, 
and  there  serve  his  mother's  customers  with  milk.  Such 
was  the  humble  beginning  of  his  industrial  career ;  and 
it  was  by  his  own  strength  that  he  rose  from  that  posi- 
tion, and  achieved  the  highest  eminence  as  an  artist. 
Not  taking  kindly  to  his  step-father,  the  boy  was  sent  to 
trade,  and  was  first  placed  with  a  grocer  in  Sheffield. 
The  business  was  very  distasteful  to  him  ;  but,  passing  a 
carver's  shop-window  one  day,  his  eye  was  attracted  by 
the  glittering  articles  it  contained,  and,  charmed  with  the 
idea  of  being  a  carver,  he  begged  to  be  released  from 
the  grocery  business  with  this  object.  His  friends  con- 
sented, and  he  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  carver  and 
gilder  for  seven  years.  His  new  master,  besides  being 
a  carver  in  wood,  was  also  a  dealer  in  prints  and  plaster 
models ;  and  Chantrey  at  once  set  about  imitating  both, 
studying  with  great  industry  and  energy.  All  his  spare 
hours  were  devoted  to  drawing,  modelling,  and  self-im- 
provement, often  working  far  into  the  night.  Before  his 
apprenticeship  was  out,  —  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  — 
he  paid  over  to  his  master  the  whole  wealth  which  he 
was  able  to  muster,  —  a  sum  of  50£,  —  to  cancel  his  in- 
dentures, determined  to  devote  himself  to  the  career  of 
an  artist.  He  then  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  Lon- 
don, and,  with  characteristic  good  sense,  sought  employ 


154  FRANCIS  CHANTREY,  —  SCULPTOR.       CHAP.  V 

ment  as  an  assistant  carver,  studying  painting  and  model- 
ling at  his  by-hours.  Amongst  the  jobs  on  which  he 
was  at  that  time  employed  as  a  journeyman  carver,  was 
the  decoration  of  the  dining-room  of  Mr.  Rogers,  the 
poet,  —  a  room  in  which  he  was  in  after-life  a  welcome 
visitor ;  and  he  usually  took  pleasure  in  pointing  out  his 
early  handiwork  to  the  guests  whom  he  met  at  his  friend's 
table. 

Returning  to  Sheffield  on  a  professional  visit  he  adver- 
tised himself  in  the  local  papers  as  a  painter  of  portraits 
in  crayons  and  miniatures,  and  also  in  oil.  For  his  first 
portrait  he  was  paid  a  well-earned  guinea  by  a  cutler ; 
and  for  a  portrait  in  oil,  a  confectioner  paid  him  as  much 
as  51,  and  a  pair  of  top  boots !  Chantrey  was  soon  in 
London  again,  to  study  at  the  Royal  Academy ;  and  next 
time  he  returned  to  Sheffield,  he  advertised  himself  as 
ready  to  model  plaster  busts  of  his  townsmen,  as  well  as 
to  paint  portraits  of  them.  He  was  even  selected  to  de- 
sign a  monument  to  a  deceased  vicar  of  the  town,  and 
executed  it  to  general  satisfaction.  When  in  London 
he  used  a  room  over  a  stable  as  a  studio,  and  there  he 
modelled  his  first  original  work  for  exhibition.  It  was  a 
gigantic  head  of  Satan.  Towards  the  close  of  Chantrey's 
life,  a  friend  passing  through  his  studio  was  struck  by  this 
model  lying  in  a  corner.  "  That  head,"  said  the  sculptor, 
"  was  the  first  thing  that  I  did  after  I  came  to  London. 
I  worked  at  it  in  a  garret,  with  a  paper  cap  on  my  head ; 
and  as  I  could  then  afford  only  one  candle,  I  stuck  that 
one  in  my  cap  that  it  might  move  along  with  me,  and 
give  me  light  whichever  way  I  turned."  Flaxman  saw 
and  admired  this  head  at  the  Academy  Exhibition,  and 
recommended  Chantrey  for  the  execution  of  the  busts  of 
four  admirals,  required  for  the  Naval  Asylum  at  Green- 


CHAP.  V.       FEANCIS  CHANTKEY,  —  SCULPTOR.  155 

wich.  This  commission  led  to  others,  and  painting  was 
given  up.  But  for  eight  years  before,  he  had  not  earned 
51.  by  his  modelling.  His  famous  head  of  Home  Tooke 
was  such  a  success  that,  according  to  his  own  account,  it 
brought  him  commissions  amounting  to  12,000/. 

Chantrey  had  now  succeeded,  but  he  had  worked  hard, 
and  thoroughly  earned  his  fortune.  He  was  selected 
from  amongst  sixteen  competitors  to  execute  the  statue 
of  George  III.  for  the  city  of  London.  A  few  years 
'  later,  he  produced  the  exquisite  monument  of  the  Sleep- 
ing Children,  now  in  Lichfield  Cathedral,  —  a  work  not 
to  be  surpassed  for  tenderness  of  sentiment  and  poetic 
beauty ;  and  thenceforward  his  career  was  one  of  increas- 
ing honor,  fame,  and  prosperity.  His  patience,  industry, 
and  steady  perseverance  were  the  means  by  which  he 
achieved  his  greatness.  Nature  endowed  him  with  gen- 
ius, and  his  sound  sense  enabled  him  to  employ  the  pre- 
cious gift  as  a  blessing.  He  was  prudent  and  shrewd, 
like  the  men  amongst  whom  he  was  born  ;  the  pocket- 
book  which  accompanied  him  on  his  Italian  tour  contain- 
ing mingled  notes  on  art,  records  of  daily  expenses,  and 
the  current  prices  of  marble.  His  tastes  were  simple, 
and  he  made  his  finest  subjects  great  by  the  mere  force 
of  simplicity.  His  statue  of  Watt,  in  Handsworth  Church, 
seems  to  us  the  very  consummation  of  art ;  yet  it  is  per- 
fectly artless  and  simple.  His  generosity  to  brother  ar- 
tists in  need  was  splendid,  but  quiet  and  unostentatious. 
In  a  word,  Chantrey  was  a  national  sculptor ;  and  the 
character  and  career  of  the  man  were  such  as  to  make 
Englishmen  justly  proud  of  him.  The  fortune  which 
he  amassed  during  his  life  of  hard  work  he  bequeathed 
to  the  Royal  Academy  for  the  promotion  of  British 
art. 


156  DAVID  WILKIE.  CHAP.  V, 

The  same  honest  and  persistent  industry  was  through 
out  distinctive  of  the  career  of  David  Wilkie.  The  son 
of  a  poor  Scotch  minister,  he  gave  early  indications  of 
an  artistic  turn ;  and  though  he  was  a  negligent  and  inapt 
scholar,  he  was  a  sedulous  drawer  of  faces  and  figures. 
A  silent  boy,  he  already  displayed  that  quiet,  concentrated 
energy  of  character  which  distinguished  him  through  life. 
He  was  always  on  the  look-out  for  an  opportunity  to 
draw,  —  and  the  walls  of  the  manse,  or  the  smooth  sand 
by  the  river  side,  came  alike  convenient  for  his  purpose. 
Any  sort  of  tool  would  serve  him ;  like  Giotto,  he  found 
a  pencil  in  a  burnt  stick,  a  prepared  canvas  in  any 
smooth  stone,  and  the  subject  for  a  picture  in  every  rag- 
ged mendicant  he  met.  When  he  visited  a  house,  he 
generally  left  his  mark  on  the  walls  as  an  indication  of 
his  presence,  sometimes  to  the  disgust  of  cleanly  house- 
wives. In  short,  notwithstanding  the  aversion  of  his 
father,  the  minister,  to  the  "  sinful "  profession  of  paint- 
ing, Wilkie's  strong  propensity  was  not  to  be  thwarted, 
and  he  became  an  artist ;  working  his  way  manfully  up 
the  steep  of  difficulty.  Though  rejected  on  his  first  ap- 
plication as  a  candidate  for  admission  to  the  Scottish 
Academy,  at  Edinburgh,  on  account  of  the  rudeness  and 
inaccuracy  of  his  introductory  specimens,  he  persevered 
in  producing  better,  until  he  was  admitted.  But  his 
progress  was  slow.  He  applied  himself  diligently  to  the 
drawing  of  the  human  figure,  and  held  on  with  the  de- 
termination to  succeed,  as  if  with  a  resolute  confidence 
in  the  result.  He  displayed  none  of  the  eccentric  hu- 
mor and  fitful  application  of  many  youths  who  conceive 
themselves  geniuses,  but  kept  up  the  routine  of  steady 
application  to  such  an  extent  that  he  himself  was  after- 
wards accustomed  to  attribute  his  success  to  his  dogged 


CHAP.  V.  DAVID  WILKIE.  157 

perseverance  rather  than  to  any  higher  innate  power. 
"The  single  element,"  he  said,  "in  all  the  progressive 
movements  of  my  pencil,  was  persevering  industry."  At 
Edinburgh  he  gained  a  few  premiums,  thought  of  turn- 
ing his  attention  to  portrait-painting,  with  a  view  to  its 
higher  and  more  certain  remuneration,  but  eventually 
went  boldly  into  the  line  in  which  he  earned  his  fame, 

—  and  painted  his  Pitlessie  Fair.    What  was  bolder  still, 
he  determined  to  proceed  to  London,  on  account  of  its 
presenting  so  much  wider  a  field  for  study  and  work  ; 
and  the  poor  Scotch  lad  arrived  in  town,  and  painted 
his  Village  Politicians  while  living  in  a  humble  lodging 
on  eighteen  shillings  a  week. 

Notwithstanding  the  success  of  this  picture,  and  the 
commissions  which  followed  it,  Wilkie  long  continued 
poor.  The  prices  which  his  works  realized  were  not 
great,  for  he  bestowed  upon  them  so  much  time  and 
labor,  that  his  earnings  continued  comparatively  small 
for  many  years.  Every  picture  was  carefully  studied 
and  elaborated  beforehand ;  nothing  was  struck  off  at  a 
heat ;  many  occupied  him  for  years,  —  touching,  retouch- 
ing, and  improving  them,  until  they  finally  passed  out 
of  his  hands.  As  with  Reynolds,  his  motto  was  "  Work  L 
work!  work ! "  and,  like  him,  he  expressed  great  dislike 
for  talking  artists.  Talkers  may  sowr  but  the  silent 
reap.  "Let  us  be  doing  something,"  was  his  oblique 
mode  of  rebuking  the  loquacious  and  admonishing  the 
idle.  Among  such  was  his  friend  Haydon,  who  was 
always  talking  so  big  about  high  art,  but  doing  so  little 
to  advance  it.  Haydon,  perhaps,  had  more  of  what  is 
called  "  genius  "  than  Wilkie,  but  he  had  no  persistency, 

—  no  work  in  him.     He  who  does  not  end  speechifying 
iocs   not   begin  doing.     While   the   silent  Wilkie   was 


158  CAREER  OF  HAYDON.  CHAP.  V 

working  and  advancing,  poor  noisy  Haydon's  enthusi 
asm  for  high  art  mostly  ended  in  declamation.  What 
Haydon  did  attempt  with  his  dropsical  muscle  figures, 
usually  proved  beyond  his  grasp,  and  he  failed;  while 
Wilkie  did  his  best  within  his  powers,  and  succeeded. 
The  one,  fitful  and  irregular  in  his  habits,  aimed  at  an 
unattainable  ideal ;  the  other,  sedulously  cultivating  his 
peculiar  and  original  talent,  aimed  steadily  at  the  sue- 
eess  which  was  within  his  reach,  and  secured  it.  Hay- 
don's career  was  a  warning  and  example  to  the  gifted. 
He  was  one  of  a  numerous  class  who  are  ready  to  cry 
out  without  sufficient  reason  against  the  blindness  and 
ingratitude  of  the  world.  But,  as  in  most  of  such  cases, 
Haydon's  worst  enemy  was  himself.  Half  the  time  spent 
in  working  that  he  spent  hi  complaining,  would  have 
gone  far  towards  making  him  the  great  man  that  he 
aimed  to  be.  While  he  went  on  holding  himself  forth 
as  a  persecuted  genius,  Wilkie,  with  the  simplicity  that 
belongs  to  true  genius,  made  no  claim  whatever,  but 
worked  hard  and  did  his  best,  and  the  world  did  not  fail 
to  recognize  his  merits.  Nor  did  Flaxman,  Reynolds,  or 
Chantrey,  expend  their  eloquence  in  bemoaning  their  lot, 
but  vigorously  exerted  themselves  to  deserve  the  support 
and  encouragement  which  they  received.  Haydon  was 
fonder  of  seeing  himself  in  print  than  of  steady  work ; 
and  hence  he  never  reached  the  ambition  of  his  life. 
Unlike  honest  Barry,  who,  like  Haydon,  was  constantly 
running  his  head  against  stone  walls,  he  sponged  upon 
his  friends  for  the  money  that  he  would  not  earn.  For 
many  years  of  his  life  he  lived  upon  borrowed  money. 
He  drew  supplies  from  his  poor,  worn-out  father  as  long 
as  he  could ;  and  when  that  source  failed,  he  sent  beg- 
ging-letters about  among  the  patrons  of  "  high  art."  His 


CHAP.V.  TURNEK'S  INDUSTRY.  159 

life,  indeed,  illustrated  the  truth  of  the  saying,  that  "an 
empty  bag  cannot  stand  upright."  Though  his  views  of 
art  were  lofty,  his  ideas  of  life  were  low.  He  talked 
eloquently,  but  acted  meanly ;  and  though  he  boasted 
of  his  independence,  he  yet  lived  in  daily  and  hourly 
humiliation. 

Turner,  the  greatest  of  our  landscape-painters,  was  a 
man  of  an  entirely  different  character.  He  was  intended 
by  his  father  for  his  own  trade  of  a  barber,  which  he  car- 
ried on  in  Maiden  Lane,  until  one  day  the  sketch  which 
the  boy  had  made  of  a  coat  of  arms  on  a  silver  salver 
having  attracted  the  notice  of  a  customer,  whom  his 
father  was  shaving,  he  was  urged  to  allow  his  son  to  fol- 
low his  bias,  and  he  was  eventually  permitted  to  follow 
art  as  a  profession.  He  learned  his  first  rudiments  with 
Malton,  who  had  at  the  same  time  under  him  another 
pupil,  Thomas  Girtin,  whose  genius  was  akin  to  Tur- 
ner's, and  kept  alive  in  him  that  ardent  spirit  of  emulation 
and  industry  which  never  ceased  to  be  his  distinguishing 
characteristic,  even  after  he  had  attained  the  summit 
of  his  fame.  Girtin  and  Turner,  though  essentially  un- 
like in  character  and  disposition,  were  warmly  attached 
friends,  and  when  poor  Girtin  died,  full  of  promise,  un- 
der thirty,  he  had  no  more  affectionate  mourner  than  his 
fellow-pupil  and  competitor.  Like  all  young  artists, 
Turner  had  many  difficulties  to  encounter,  and  they 
were  all  the  greater  that  Turner's  circumstances  were 
so  straitened.  But  he  was  always  willing  to  work,  and 
to  take  pains  with  his  work,  no  matter  howsoever  hum- 
ble it  might  be.  He  was  glad  to  hire  himself  out  at 
half  a  crown  a  night  to  wash  in  skies  in  Indian  ink 
upon  other  people's  drawings,  getting  his  supper  into 
the  bargain.  Thus  he  earned  money  and  acquired  ex 


160  PRIVATIONS  ENDURED  BY  ARTISTS.      CHAP.  V. 

pertness.  Then  he  took  to  illustrating  guide-books, 
almanacs,  and  any  sort  of  books  that  wanted  cheap 
frontispieces.  "  What  could  I  have  done  better  ?  "  said 
he  afterwards ;  "  it  was  first-rate  practice."  He  did 
everything  carefully  and  conscientiously,  never  slurring 
over  his  work  because  he  was  ill-remunerated  for  it. 
He  aimed  at  learning  as  well  as  living;  always  doing 
his  best,  and  never  leaving  a  drawing  without  having 
made  a  step  in  advance  upon  his  previous  work.  A 
man  who  thus  labored  was  sure  to  do  much ;  and  his 
advance  in  power  and  grasp  of  thought  was,  to  use  Rus- 
kin's  words,  "  as  steady  as  the  increasing  light  of  sun- 
rise." But  Turner's  genius  needs  no  panegyric ;  his 
best  monument  is  the  great  works  bequeathed  by  him  to 
the  nation,  which  will  ever  be  the  most  lasting  memorial 
of  his  fame. 

Many  artists  have  had  to  encounter  privations  which 
have  tried  their  courage  and  endurance  to  the  utmost 
before  they  succeeded.  What  number  may  have  sunk 
under  them  we  can  never  know.  Martin  encountered 
difficulties  in  the  course  of  his  career,  such  as  perhaps 
fall  to  the  lot  of  few.  More  than  once  he  found  himself 
on  the  verge  of  starvation  whilst  engaged  on  his  first 
great  picture.  It  is  related  of  him  that  on  one  occasion 
he  found  himself  reduced  to  his  last  shilling,  —  a  bright 
shilling,  —  which  he  had  kept  because  of  its  very  bright- 
ness, but  at  length  he  found  it  necessary  to  exchange  it 
for  bread.  He  went  to  a  baker's  shop,  bought  a  loaf, 
and  was  taking  it  away,  when  the  baker  snatched  it  from 
liirn,  and  tossed  back  the  shilling  to  the  starving  painter. 
The  bright  shilling  had  failed  him  in  his  hour  of  need,  -— 
it  was  a  bad  one !  Returning  to  his  lodgings,  he  rum- 
maged his  trunk  for  some  remaining  crust  to  satisfy  his 


CHAP.  V.  MARTIN.  —  PUGIN.  ]  C 1 

hunger.  Upheld  throughout  by  the  victorious  power  of 
enthusiasm,  he  pursued  his  design  with  unsubdued  en- 
ergy. He  had  the  courage  to  work  on  and  to  wait ;  and 
when,  a  few  days  after,  he  found  an  opportunity  to  ex- 
hibit his  picture,  he  was  from  that  time  famous.  Like 
many  other  great  artists,  his  life  proves  that,  in  despite 
of  outward  circumstances,  genius,  aided  by  industry,  will 
be  its  own  protector,  and  that  fame,  though  she  comes 
late,  will  never  ultimately  refuse  her  favors  to  real 
merit. 

The  most  careful  discipline  and  training  after  aca- 
demic methods  will  fail  in  making  an  artist,  unless  he 
himself  take  an  active  part  in  the  work.  Like  every 
highly  cultivated  man,  he  must  be  mainly  self-educated. 
When  Pugin,  who  was  brought  up  in  his  father's  office, 
had  learned  all  that  he  could  learn  of  architecture  ac- 
cording to  the  usual  formulas,  he  still  found  that  he  had 
learned  but  little ;  and  that  he  must  begin  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  pass  through  the  discipline  of  labor.  Young 
Pugin  accordingly  hired  himself  out  as  a  common  car- 
penter at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  —  first  working  un- 
der the  stage,  then  behind  the  flies,  then  upon  the  stage 
itself.  He  thus  acquired  a  familiarity  with  work,  and 
cultivated  an  architectural  taste,  to  which  the  diversity 
of  the  mechanical  employment  about  a  large  operatic 
establishment  is  peculiarly  favorable.  When  the  theatre 
closed  for  the  season,  he  worked  a  sailing-ship  between 
London  and  some  of  the  French  ports,  carrying  on  at 
the  same  time  a  profitable  trade.  At  every  opportunity 
he  would  land  and  make  drawings  of  any  old  building, 
and  especially  of  any  ecclesiastical  structure  which  fell 
in  his  way.  Afterwards  he  would  make  special  journeys 
to  the  Continent  for  the  same  purpose,  and  returned 


162  GEORGE  KEMP.  CHAP.  V 

home  laden  with  drawings.  Thus  he  plodded  and  la- 
bored on,  making  sure  of  the  distinction  and  excellence 
which  he  eventually  achieved. 

A  similar  illustration  of  plodding  industry  in  the  same 
walk  is  presented  in  the  career  of  George  Kemp,  the 
architect  of  the  beautiful  Scott  Monument  at  Edinburgh. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  poor  shepherd,  who  pursued  his  call- 
ing on  the  southern  slope  of  the  Pentland  Hills.  Amidst 
that  pastoral  solitude  the  boy  had  no  opportunity  of  en- 
joying the  contemplation  of  beautiful  works  of  art.  It 
happened,  however,  that  in  his  tenth  year  he  was  sent  on 
a  message  to  Roslin,  by  the  farmer  for  whom  his  father 
herded  sheep,  and  the  sight  of  the  beautiful  castle  and 
chapel  there  seems  to  have  made  a  vivid  and  enduring 
impression  on  his  mind.  Probably  to  enable  him  to  in- 
dulge his  love  of  architectural  construction,  the  boy  be- 
sought his  father  to  let  him  be  a  joiner ;  and  he  was 
accordingly  put  apprentice  to  a  neighboring  village  car- 
penter. Having  served  his  time,  he  went  to  Galashiels 
to  seek  work,  doing  the  journey  on  foot.  As  he  was  plod- 
ding along  the  valley  of  the  Tweed  with  his  tools  upon  his 
back,  a  carriage  overtook  him  near  Elibank  Tower ;  and 
the  coachman,  doubtless  at  the  suggestion  of  his  master, 
who  rode  alone  inside,  having  asked  the  youth  how  far  he 
had  to  walk,  and  learning  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  Gala- 
shiels, invited  him  to  mount  the  box  beside  him,  and  thus 
to  ride  thither.  It  turned  out  that  the  kindly  gentleman 
inside  was  no  other  than  Sir  Walter  Scott,  then  travelling 
on  his  official  duty  as  Sheriff  of  Selkirkshire.  Whilst 
working  at  his  trade  at  Galashiels,  Kemp  had  frequent 
opportunities  of  visiting  Melrose,  Dryburgh,  and  Jed- 
burgh  Abbeys,  and  studying  them  carefully.  Inspired 
by  his  love  of  architecture,  he  next  worked  his  way,  as  a 


CHAP.  V.  GEORGE  KEMP.  163 

carpenter,  over  the  greater  part  ot  the  north  of  England, 
never  omitting  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  and  making 
sketches  of  any  fine  Gothic  building.  On  one  occasion, 
when  working  at  his  trade  in  Lancashire,  he  walked  fifty 
miles  to  York,  spent  a  week  in  carefully  examining  the 
Minster,  and  returned  in  like  manner  on  foot.  We  next 
find  him  in  Glasgow,  where  he  remained  four  years,  study- 
ing the  fine  cathedral  there  during  his  spare  time.  He 
returned  to  England  again,  this  time  working  his  way 
further  south ;  studying  Canterbury,  Winchester,  Tintern, 
and  other  well-known  structures.  In  1824  he  formed  the 
design  of  travelling  over  Europe  with  the  same  object 
supporting  himself  by  his  trade.  He  commenced  at 
Boulogne,  and  from  thence  proceeded  by  Abbeville  and 
Beauvais  to  Paris,  spending  a  few  weeks,  making  draw- 
ings and  studies,  in  each  place.  His  skill  as  a  mechanic 
and  especially  his  knowledge  of  mill-work,  readily  secured 
him  employment  wherever  he  went;  and  he  was  thus 
enabled  to  choose  his  site  of  employment,  which  was  in- 
variably in  the  neighborhood  of  some  fine  old  Gothic 
structure,  in  studying  which  he  occupied  his  leisure  hours 
After  a  year's  working,  travel,  and  study  abroad,  he  wae 
abruptly  summoned  home  by  family  affairs,  and  returned 
to  Scotland.  He  continued  his  studies,  and  became  a  pro 
ficient  in  drawing  and  perspective :  Melrose  was  his  favor 
ite  ruin  ;  and  he  produced  several  elaborate  drawings  of 
the  building,  one  of  which,  exhibiting  it  in  a  "  restored " 
state,  was  afterwards  engraved.  He  also  obtained  some 
employment  as  a  modeller  of  architectural  designs ;  and 
afterwards  made  drawings  for  a  work  commenced  by  an 
Edinburgh  engraver,  after  the  plan  of  Britton's  "  Cathedral 
Antiquities."  This  was  a  task  most  congenial  to  his  tastes, 
and  lie  labored  at  it  with  an  enthusiasm  which  ensured  its 


164  JOHN   GIBSON.  CIIAI-.  V. 

rapid  advance  ;  walking  on  foot  for  this  purpose  over  half 
Scotland,  and  living  as  an  ordinary  mechanic,  whilst  exe- 
cuting drawings  which  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
greatest  masters  in  the  art.  The  projector  of  the  work 
having  died  suddenly,  its  publication  was  interfered  with, 
and  Kemp  sought  other  employment.  Few  knew  of  the 
genius  of  this  man,  —  for  he  was  exceedingly  taciturn  and 
habitually  modest,  —  when  the  Committee  of  the  Scott 
Monument  offered  a  prize  for  the  best  design.  The  com- 
petitors were  numerous,  ~-  including  some  of  the  greatest 
names  in  classical  architecture;  but  the  design  unani- 
mously selected  was  that  of  George  Kemp,  then  working 
at  Kilwiuning  Abbey,  in  Ayrshire,  many  miles  off,  when 
the  letter  reached  him  intimating  the  decision  of  the  com- 
mittee. Poor  Kemp  !  Shortly  after  this  event  he  met 
an  untimely  death,  and  did  not  live  to  see  the  first  re- 
sult of  his  indefatigable  industry  and  self-culture  em 
bodied  in  stone,  —  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  appro- 
priate memorials  ever  erected  to  literary  genius. 

Among  living  artists,  who  have  honorably  fought  their 
way  upwards  from  poverty  to  fame,  we  may  mention 
John  Gibson, — a  man  full  of  a  genuine  enthusiasm  and 
love  of  his  art,  which  place  him  high  above  those  sordid 
temptations  which  urge  meaner  natures  to  make  time  the 
measure  of  profit.  He  was  born  at  Gyffn,  near  Conway, 
in  North  Wales,  —  the  son  of  a  gardener.  He  early 
showed  indications  of  his  talent  by  the  carvings  in  wood 
which  he  made  b^  means  of  a  common  pocket  knife ;  and 
his  father,  noting  the  direction  of  his  talent  and  wisely 
improving  the  circumstance,  sent  him  to  Liverpool,  and 
bound  the  boy  apprentice  to  a  cabinet-maker  and  wood- 
carver.  He  rapidly  improved  at  his  trade,  and  some 
of  his  carvings  were  much  admired.  He  was  naturally 


CHAP.  V.         ROBERT  THORBURN.  1G5 

led  onwards  to  sculpture,  and  when  eighteen  years  of 
age,  he  modelled  a  small  figure  of  Time  in  wax,  which 
attracted  considerable  notice.  The  Messrs.  Franceys, 
sculptors,  of  Liverpool,  purchased  the  boy's  indentures, 
and  took  him  as  their  apprentice  for  six  years,  during 
which  his  remarkable  genius  displayed  itself  in  many 
pure  and  original  works.  From  thence  he  proceeded 
to  London,  and  afterwards  to  Rome  ;  and  his  fame  is 
now  European. 

Robert  Thorburn,  another  Royal  Academician,  like 
John  Gibson,  was  born  of  poor  parents.  His  father  was 
a  shoemaker  in  a  very  humble  way  of  business,  in  the 
town  of  Dumfries,  in  Scotland.  Besides  Robert  there 
were  two  other  sons ;  one  of  whom  is  still  noted  in  his 
native  town  as  a  skilful  carver  in  wood.  One  day  a  lady 
called  at  the  shoemaker's,  and  found  Robert,  then  a  mere 
boy,  engaged  in  drawing  upon  a  stool  which  served  him 
for  a  table.  She  examined  his  work,  and  finding  that  he 
had  abilities  in  this  direction,  interested  herself  in  ob- 
taining for  him  some  occupation  in  drawing,  and  enlisted 
in  his  behalf  the  services  of  others  who  could  assist  him 
in  prosecuting  the  study  of  art.  The  boy  was  very  dili- 
gent, painstaking,  staid,  and  silent,  mixing  little  with  his 
companions,  and  forming  but  few  intimacies.  About  the 
year  1830,  some  gentlemen  of  the  town  provided  Thor- 
burn with  the  means  of  proceeding  to  Edinburgh,  where 
he  was  admitted  student  of  the  Scottish  Academy.  There 
he  had  the  advantage  of  studying  under  competent  mas- 
ters, and  the  progress  which  he  made  was  rapid  and  de- 
cided. After  residing  in  Edinburgh  for  some  years,  he 
removed  to  London,  where,  we  understand,  he  had  the 
advantage  of  being  introduced  to  notice  under  the  patron- 
age  of  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch.  We  need  scarcely  say, 


166  NOEL  PATON.  —  SHARPLES.  CHAP.  V. 

however,  that  whatever  use  patronage  may  have  been  to 
Thorburn  in  giving  him  an  introduction  to  the  best  cir- 
cles, patronage  of  no  kind  could  have  made  him  the 
great  artist  that  he  unquestionably  is,  without  native 
genius  and  diligent  application. 

Noel  Paton,  another  well-known  painter,  began  his 
artistic  career  at  Dunfermline  and  Paisley,  as  a  drawer  of 
patterns  for  tablecloths  and  muslin  embroidered  by  hand ; 
meanwhile  working  diligently  at  higher  artistic  studies, 
including  the  human  figure.  He  was,  like  Turner,  ready 
to  turn  his  hand  to  any  kind  of  work,  and  in  1840,  when 
a  mere  youth,  we  find  him  engaged,  among  his  other 
labors,  in  illustrating  the  "  Renfrewshire  Annual."  He 
worked  his  way  step  by  step,  slowly,  yet  surely ;  but  he 
remained  unknown  until  the  exhibition  of  the  prize 
cartoons  painted  for  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  when 
his  picture  of  the  Spirit  of  Religion  (for  which  he  ob- 
tained one  of  the  first  prizes)  revealed  him  to  the 
world  as  a  genuine  artist ;  and  the  works  which  he  has 
since  exhibited,  —  such  as  the  "  Reconciliation  of  Oberon 
and  Titania,"  "  Home,"  and  "  The  bluidy  Tryste,"  — 
have  shown  a  steady  advance  in  artistic  power  and  cul- 
ture. 

But  perhaps  the  most  striking  exemplification  of  per- 
severance and  industry  in  the  cultivation  of  art  is  found 
in  the  career  of  James  Sharpies,  the  working  blacksmith 
of  Blackburn.  He  was  born  at  Wakefield  in  Yorkshire, 
in  1825,  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen  children.  His  father 
was  a  working  ironfounder,  and  removed  to  Bury  to  fol- 
low his  business,  while  his  family  were  still  young.  The 
boys  received  no  school  education,  but  were  all  sent  tc 
work  as  soon  as  they  were  able ;  and  at  about  ten  James 


CHAP   V.      JAMES  SHARPLES,  —  SMITHY  BOY.  167 

was  placed  in  the  foundry  of  the  Messrs.  Lees,  Cousins 
and  Diggles,  where  he  was  employed  for  about  two  years 
as  a  smithy-boy.  After  that  he  was  sent  into  the  engine- 
shop  of  the  Messrs.  Clarkson  and  Kay,  where  his  father 
worked  as  an  engine-smith.  The  boy's  employment  was  to 
heat  and  carry  rivets  for  the  boiler-makers.  Though  his 
hours  of  labor  were  very  long — often  from  six  in  the  morn- 
ing until  eight  at  night  —  his  father  contrived  to  give  him 
some  little  teaching  after  work  hours  ;  and  it  was  thus  that 
he  partially  learned  his  letters.  An  incident  occurred  in 
the  course  of  his  employment  among  the  boiler-makers, 
which  first  awakened  in  him  the  desire  to  learn  drawing. 
He  had  occasionally  been  employed  by  the  foreman  to 
hold  the  chalked  line  with  which  he  made  the  designs  of 
boilers  upon  the  floor  of  the  workshop  ;  and  on  such  occa- 
sions the  foreman  was  accustomed  to  hold  the  line,  and 
direct  the  boy  to  make  the  necessary  dimensions.  James 
soon  became  so  expert  at  this  as  to  be  of  considerable  ser- 
vice to  the  foreman  ;  and  at  his  leisure  hours  at  home  his 
great  delight  was  to  practise  drawing  designs  of  boilers 
upon  his  mother's  floor.  On  one  occasion,  when  his 
mother's  aunt  was  expected  from  Manchester  to  pay  the 
family  a  visit,  and  the  house  had  been  made  as  decent  as 
possible  for  her  reception,  the  boy,  on  coming  in  from  the 
foundry  in  the  evening,  immediately  gan  his  usual  oper- 
ations upon  the  floor.  He  had  preceded  some  way  with 
his  design  of  a  large  boiler  in  chalk,  when  his  mother 
arrived  with  the  visitor,  and  to  her  dismay  found  the  boy 
unwashed  and  the  floor  chalked  all  over.  Thfi  aunt,  how- 
ever, professed  to  be  pleased  with  the  boy's  industry, 
praised  his  design,  and  recommended  his  mother  to  pro- 
vide "  the  little  sweep,"  as  she  called  him,  with  paper  and 
pencils. 


168        JAMES  SHARPIES,  -LEARNS  DRAWING.    CHAP.  V, 

His  elder  brother,  being  like  himself  disposed  to  be 
industrious  in  the  evenings  after  the  day's  work  was  over, 
occupied  himself  in  mechanical  drawing ;  and  he  recom- 
mended James  to  practise  figure  and  landscape  drawing. 
He  accordingly  began  to  make  copies  of  lithographs,  but 
remained  altogether  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  perspective 
and  the  principles  of  light  and  shade.  He  worked  away, 
however,  and  gradually  acquired  expertness  in  copying. 
At  sixteen  he  entered  the  Bury  Mechanics'  Institution  for 
the  purpose  of  attending  the  drawing  class,  which  was 
taught  by  an  amateur  artist  who  followed  the  trade  of  a 
barber.  There  he  had  one  lesson  a  week  during  three 
months.  The  teacher  recommended  him  to  obtain  from  the 
library  Burnet's  "Practical  Treatise  on  Painting;"  but 
as  he  could  not  yet  read  with  ease,  he  was  under  the 
necessity  of  getting  his  mother,  and  sometimes  his  elder 
brother,  to  read  passages  from  the  book  for  him,  while  he 
sat  by  and  listened.  Feeling  himself  hampered  by  his 
ignorance  of  the  art  of  reading,  and  eager  to  master  the 
contents  of  Burnet's  book,  he  ceased  attending  the  draw- 
ing class  at  the  Mechanics'  Institute  after  the  first  quarter, 
and  diligently  devoted  himself  to  learn  reading  and  writ- 
ing at  home.  In  this  he  soon  succeeded ;  and  when  he 
again  joined  the  Institution  for  another  quarter,  and  took 
out  "  Burnet "  a  second  time,  he  was  not  only  able  to  read 
it,  but  to  make  written  extracts  for  future  use.  So  ar- 
dently did  he  study  the  volume,  that  he  used  to  rise  ai 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  read  it  and  copy  out  pas- 
sages ;  after  which  he  went  to  the  foundry  at  six,  worked 
until  six  and  sometimes  eight  in  the  evening  ;  and  re- 
turned home  to  enter  with  fresh  zest  upon  the  study  of 
Burnet,  which  he  continued  very  often  until  a  late  hour. 
Part  of  his  nights  were  also  occupied  in  drawing  and 


CHAP.  V.    JAMES  SHARPLES,  —  LEARNS  PAINTING.        169 

making  copies  of  drawings.  On  one  of  these  —  a  copy 
of  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  "  Last  Supper  "  —  he  spent  an 
entire  night.  He  went  to  bed  indeed,  but  his  mind  was 
so  engrossed  with  the  subject  that  he  could  not  sleep,  and 
rose  again  to  resume  hip  pencil. 

He  next  proceeded  to  try  his  hand  at  painting  in  oil,  for 
which  purpose  he  procured  some  canvas  from  a  draper's 
shop,  stretched  it  on  a  frame,  coated  it  over  with  white 
lead,  and  began  painting  upon  it  with  colors  bought  from 
a  house-painter.  But  his  work  proved  a  total  failure ;  for 
the  canvas  was  rough  and  knotty,  and  the  paint  would  not 
dry.  In  this  extremity  he  applied  to  his  old  teacher,  the 
barber,  from  whom  he  first  learnt  that  prepared  canvas 
was  to  be  had,  and  that  there  were  colors  and  varnishes 
made  for  the  special  purpose  of  oil-painting.  As  soon, 
therefore,  as  his  means  would  allow,  he  bought  a  small 
stock  of  the  necessary  articles  and  began  afresh,  —  his 
amateur  master  showing  him  how  to  paint ;  and  the  pupil 
succeeded  so  well  that  he  excelled  the  master's  copy.  His 
first  picture  was  a  copy  from  an  engraving  called  "  Sheep- 
shearing,"  and  was  afterwards  sold  by  him  for  half-a- 
crown.  Aided  by  a  shilling  Guide  to  Oil-painting,  he 
went  on  working  at  his  leisure  hours,  and  gradually  ac- 
quired a  better  knowledge  of  his  materials.  He  made  his 
own  easel  and  palette,  palette-knife,  and  paint-chest ;  and 
he  bought  his  paint,  brushes,  and  canvas,  as  he  could  raise 
the  money  by  working  over-time.  This  was  the  slender 
fund  which  his  parents  consented  to  allow  him  for  the 
purpose ;  the  burden  of  supporting  a  very  large  family 
precluding  them  from  doing  more.  Often  he  would  walk 
to  Manchester  and  back  in  the  evenings  to  buy  two  or 
three  shillings'  worth  of  paint  and  canvas,  returning  al- 
most at  midnight,  after  his  eighteen  miles'  walk,  some- 


17C     JAMES  SHARPLKS,  —  AUTOBIOGRAPHY.  CHAP.  V. 

times  wet  through  and  completely  exhausted,  but  borne 
up  throughout  by  his  inexhaustible  hope  and  invincible 
determination.  The  further  progress  of  the  self-taught 
artist  is  best  narrated  in  his  own  words :  — 

rt  The  next  pictures  I  painted,"  he  writes,  "  were  a 
Landscape  by  Moonlight,  a  Fruit-piece,  and  one  or  two 
others ;  after  which  I  conceived  the  idea  of  painting  '  The 
Forge/  I  had  for  some  time  thought  about  it,  but  had  not 
attempted  to  embody  the  conception  in  a  drawing.  I  now, 
however,  made  a  sketch  of  the  subject  upon  paper,  and 
then  proceeded  to  paint  it  on  canvas.  The  picture  simply 
represents  the  interior  of  a  large  workshop  such  as  I  have 
been  accustomed  to  work  in,  although  not  of  any  particu- 
lar shop.  It  is,  therefore,  to  this  extent,  an  original  con- 
ception. Having  made  an  outline  of  the  subject,  I  found 
that,  before  I  could  proceed  with  it  successfully,  a  knowl- 
edge of  anatomy  was  indispensable  to  enable  me  accu- 
rately to  delineate  the  muscles  of  the  figures.  My  brother 
Peter  came  to  my  assistance  at  this  juncture,  and  kindly 
purchased  for  me  Flaxman's  l  Anatomical  Studies  '  —  a 
work  altogether  beyond  my  means  at  the  time,  for  it  cost 
twenty-four  shillings.  This  book  I  looked  upon  as  a  great 
treasure,  and  I  studied  it  laboriously,  rising  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  to  draw  after  it,  and  occasionally 
getting  my  brother  Peter  to  stand  for  me  as  a  model  at 
that  untimely  hour.  Although  I  gradually  improved  my- 
self by  this  practice,  it  was  some  time  before  I  felt  suffi 
cient  confidence  to  go  on  with  my  picture.  I  also  felt 
hampered  by  my  want  of  knowledge  of  perspective,  which 
I  endeavored  to  remedy  by  carefully  studying  Brook  Tay- 
lor's *  Principles ; '  and  shortly  after  I  resumed  my  paint- 
ing. While  engaged  in  the  study  of  perspective  at  home, 
I  used  to  apply  for  and  obtain  leave  to  work  at  the  heav- 


CHAP.  V.      JAMES   SHARPLES,  —  "  THE  FORGE."  17  J 

ier  kinds  of  smith  work  at  the  foundry,  and  i?or  this 
reason  —  the  time  required  for  heating  the  heaviest  iron 
work  is  so  much  longer  than  that  required  for  heating 
the  lighter,  that  it  enabled  me  to  secure  a  number  of 
spare  minutes  in  the  course  of  the  day,  which  I  care- 
fully employed  in  making  diagrams  in  perspective  upon 
the  sheet  iron  casing  in  front  of  the  hearth  at  which  I 
worked." 

Thus  assiduously  working  and  studying,  James  Sharpies 
steadily  advanced  in  his  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
art,  and  acquired  greater  facility  in  its  practice.  Some 
eighteen  months  after  the  expiry  of  his  apprenticeship 
he  painted  a  portrait  of  his  father,  which  attracted  con- 
siderable notice  in  the  town ;  as  also  did  the  picture  of 
"  The  Forge,"  which  was  finished  soon  after.  His  suc- 
cess in  portrait-painting  even  obtained  for  him  a  commis- 
sion from  the  foreman  of  the  shop  to  paint  a  family  group, 
and  Sharpies  executed  it  so  well  that  the  foreman  not 
only  paid  him  the  agreed  price  of  eighteen  pounds,  but 
thirty  shillings  to  boot.  While  engaged  upon  this  group 
he  ceased  to  work  at  the  foundry,  and  he  had  thoughts 
of  giving  up  his  trade  altogether  and  devoting  himself 
exclusively  to  painting.  He  proceeded  to  paint  several 
pictures,  amongst  others  a  head  of  Christ,  an  original 
conception,  life-size,  and  a  view  of  Bury ;  but  not  ob- 
taining sufficient  employment  at  portraits  to  occupy  his 
time,  or  give  him  the  prospect  of  a  steady  income,  he  had 
the  good  sense  to  resume  his  leather  apron,  and  go  on 
working  at  his  honest  trade  of  a  blacksmith  ;  employing 
his  leisure  hours  in  engraving  his  picture  of  "The 
Forge,"  since  published.  He  was  induced  to  commence 
the  engraving  by  the  following  circumstance.  A  Man- 
chester picture-dealer,  to  whom  he  showed  the  painting, 


172      JAMES  SHARPLES.-LEAKNS  ENGRAVING.    CHAP.  V 

let  drop  the  observation,  that  in  the  hands  of  a  skilfiij 
engraver  it  would  make  a  very  good  print.  Sharpies 
immediately  conceived  the  idea  of  engraving  it  himself, 
though  altogether  ignorant  of  the  art.  The  difficulties 
which  he  encountered  and  successfully  overcame  in  car- 
rying out  his  project  are  thus  described  by  himself:  — 

"  I  had  seen  an  advertisement  of  a  Sheffield  steel-plate 
maker,  giving  a  list  of  the  prices  at  which  he  supplied 
plates  of  various  sizes,  and,  fixing  upon  one  of  suitable 
dimensions,  I  remitted  the  amount,  together  with  a  small 
additional  sum  for  which  I  requested  him  to  send  me  a 
few  engraving  tools.  I  could  not  specify  the  articles 
wanted,  for  I  did  not  then  know  anything  about  the 
process  of  engraving.  However,  there  duly  arrived  with 
the  plate  three  or  four  gravers  and  an  etching  needle  ; 
the  latter  I  spoiled  before  I  knew  its  use.  Whilst  work- 
ing at  the  plate,  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Engineers 
offered  a  premium  for  the  best  design  for  an  emblemati- 
cal picture,  for  which  I  determined  to  compete,  and  I  was 
so  fortunate  as  to  win  the  prize.  Shortly  after  this  I 
removed  to  Blackburn,  where  I  obtained  employment  at 
Messrs.  Yates',  engineers,  as  an  engine-smith ;  and  con- 
tinued to  employ  my  leisure  time  in  drawing,  painting, 
and  engraving,  as  before.  With  the  engraving  I  made 
but  very  slow  progress,  owing  to  the  difficulties  I  expe- 
rienced from  not  possessing  proper  tools.  I  then  deter- 
mined to  try  to  make  some  that  would  suit  my  purpose, 
and  after  several  failures  I  succeeded  in  making  many 
that  I  have  used  in  the  course  of  my  engraving.  I  was 
also  greatly  at  a  loss  for  want  of  a  proper  magnifying 
glass,  and  part  of  the  plate  was  executed  with  no  other 
assistance  of  this  sort  than  what  my  father's  spectacles 
Afforded,  though  I  afterwards  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 


CHAP.  V.    JAMES  SHARPLES,  —  DOMESTIC  LIFE.  170 

proper  magnifier,  which  was  of  the  utmost  use  to  me 
An  incident  occurred  while  I  was  engraving  the  plate, 
which  had  almost  caused  me  to  abandon  it  altogether 
It  sometimes  happened  that  I  was  obliged  to  lay  it  aside 
for  a  considerable  time,  when  other  work  pressed ;  and  in 
order  to  guard  it  against  rust,  I  was  accustomed  to  rub 
over  the  graven  parts  with  oil.  But  on  examining  the 
plate  after  one  of  such  intervals,  I  found  that  the  oil  had 
become  a  dark  sticky  substance  extremely  difficult  to  get 
out.  I  tried  to  pick  it  out  with  a  needle,  but  found  that 
it  would  almost  take  as  much  time  as  to  engrave  the  parts 
afresh.  1  was  in  great  despair  at  this,  but  at  length  hit 
upon  the  expedient  of  boiling  it  in  water  containing  soda; 
and  afterwards  rubbing  the  engraved  parts  with  a  tooth- 
brush ;  and  to  my  delight  found  the  plan  succeeded  per- 
fectly. My  greatest  difficulties  now  over,  patience  and 
perseverance  were  all  that  were  needed  to  bring  my 
labors  to  a  successful  issue.  I  had  neither  advice  nor 
assistance  from  any  one  in  finishing  the  plate.  If,  there- 
fore, the  work  possesses  any  merit,  I  can  claim  it  as  my 
own  ;  and  if  in  its  accomplishment  I  have  contributed  to 
show  what  can  be  done  by  persevering  industry  and  de- 
termination, it  is  all  the  honor  I  wish  to  lay  claim  to." 

It  would  be  beside  our  purpose  to  enter  upon  any  criti- 
cism of  "  The  Forge  "  as  an  engraving ;  its  merits  having 
already  been  genially  recognized  by  the  "  Art  Journal," 
the  u  Athenaeum,"  the  "  Critic,"  and  other  journals. 
The  execution  of  the  work  occupied  James  Sharples's 
leisure  evening  hours  during  a  period  of  five  years  ;  and 
it  was  only  when  he  took  the  plate  to  the  printer  that  he 
for  the  first  time  saw  an  engraved  plate  produced  by  any 
other  man.  To  this  unvarnished  picture  of  industry  and 
genius,  we  add  one  other  trait,  and  it  is  a  domestic  one. 


174  INDUSTRY  OF  MUSICIANS.  CHAP.  V 

"  I  have  been  married  seven  years,"  says  he,  "  and  dur- 
ing that  time  my  greatest  pleasure,  after  I  have  finished 
my  daily  labor  at  the  foundry,  has  been  to  resume  my 
pencil  or  graver, 'frequently  until  a  late  hour  of  the  even- 
ing, my  wife  meanwhile  sitting  by  my  side  and  reading 
to  me  from  some  interesting  book,"  —  a  simple  but  beau- 
tiful testimony  to  the  thorough  common  sense  as  well  as 
the  genuine  right-heartediiess  of  this  most  interesting  and 
deserving  workman. 

The  same  industry  and  application  which  we  have 
found  to  be  necessary  in  order  to  acquire  excellence  in 
painting  and  sculpture,  are  equally  required  in  the  sister 
art  of  music,  —  the  one  being  the  poetry  of  form  and 
color,  the  other  of  the  sounds  of  nature.  Handel  was  an 
indefatigable  and  constant  worker;  he  was  never  cast 
down  by  defeat,  but  his  energy  seemed  to  increase  the 
more  that  adversity  struck  him.  When  a  prey  to  his 
mortifications  as  an  insolvent  debtor,  he  did  not  give  way 
for  a  moment,  but  in  one  year  produced  his  "  Saul,"  "  Is- 
rael," the  music  for  Dryden's  "  Ode,"  his  "  Twelve  Grand 
Concertos,"  and  the  opera  of  "  Jupiter  in  Argos,"  among 
the  finest  of  his  works.  As  his  biographer  says  of  him, 
"  He  braved  everything,  and,  by  his  unaided  self,  accom- 
plished the  work  of  twelve  men." 

Haydn,  speaking  of  his  art,  said,  "  It  consists  in  taking 
up  a  subject  and  pursuing  it."  "  Work,"  said  Mozart, 
**  is  my  chief  pleasure."  Beethoven's  favorite  maxim 
was,  "The  barriers  are  not  erected  which  can  say  to 
aspiring  talents  and  industry,  '  Thus  far  and  no  farther.' " 
When  Moscheles  submitted  his  score  of  "  Fidelio  "  for  the 
piano-forte  to  Beethoven,  the  latter  found  written  at  the 
bottom  of  the  last  page,  "  Finis,  with  God's  help."  Beet- 
hoven immediately  wrote  underneath,  "  O  man  I  help 


CHAP.  V.  BACH.  —  ARNE.  175 

thyself !  "  This  was  the  motto  of  his  artistic  life.  John 
Sebastian  Bach  said  of  himself,  "  I  was  industrious ; 
whoever  is  equally  sedulous,  will  be  equally  successful." 
But  there  is  no  doubt  that  Bach  was  born  with  a  passion 
for  music,  which  formed  the  main-spring  of  his  industry, 
and  was  the  true  secret  of  his  success.  When  a  mere 
youth,  his  elder  brother,  wishing  to  turn  his  abilities  into 
another  direction,  destroyed  a  collection  of  studies  which 
the  young  Sebastian,  being  denied  candles,  had  copied 
by  moonlight;  proving  the  strong  natural  bent  of  the 
boy's  genius.  Of  Meyerbeer,  Bayle  thus  wrote  from 
Milan  in  1820  :  "He  is  a  man  of  some  talent,  but  no 
genius  ;  he  lives  solitary,  working  fifteen  hours  a  day 
at  music."  Years  passed,  and  Meyerbeer's  hard  work 
fully  brought  out  his  genius,  as  displayed  in  his  "  Ro- 
berto," "  Huguenots,"  "  Prophete,"  and  other  works,  con- 
fessedly amongst  the  greatest  operas  which  have  been 
produced  in  modern  times. 

Although  musical  composition  is  not  an  art  in  which 
Knglishmen  have  as  yet  greatly  distinguished  themselves, 
their  energies  having  for  the  most  part  taken  other  and 
more  practical  directions,  we  are  not  without  native  illus- 
trations of  the  power  of  perseverance  in  this  special  pur- 
suit. Arne  was  an  upholsterer's  son,  intended  by  his 
father  for  the  legal  profession  ;  but  his  love  of  music  was 
eo  great,  that  he  could  not  be  withheld  from  pursuing  it. 
While  engaged  in  an  attorney's  office,  his  means  were 
very  limited,  but,  to  gratify  his  tastes,  he  was  accustomed 
to  borrow  a  livery  and  go  into  the  gallery  of  the  Opera, 
then  appropriated  to  domestics.  Unknown  to  his  father 
he  made  great  progress  with  the  violin,  and  the  first 
knowledge  his  father  had  of  the  circumstance  was  when 
accidentally  calling  at  the  house  of  a  neighboring  gentle- 


176  WILLIAM  JACKSON.  CHAP.  V. 

man,  to  his  surprise  and  consternation  he  found  his  son 
playing  the  leading  instrument  with  a  party  of  musicians. 
This  incident  decided  the  fate  of  Arne.  His  father  offered 
no  further  opposition  to  his  wishes  ;  and  the  world  there- 
by lost  a  lawyer,  but  gained  a  musician  of  much  taste  and 
delicacy  of  feeling,  who  added  many  valuable  works  to 
our  stores  of  English  music. 

The  career  of  William  Jackson,  the  author  of  "  The 
Deliverance  of  Israel,"  an  oratorio  which  has  been  suc- 
cessfully performed  in  the  principal  musical  towns  of  his 
native  county  of  York,  furnishes  an  interesting  illustra- 
tion of  the  triumph  of  perseverance  over  difficulties  in 
the  pursuit  of  musical  science.  He  is  the  son  of  a  miller 
at  Masham,  a  little  town  situated  in  the  valley  of  the 
Yore,  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Yorkshire.  Musical 
taste  seems  to  have  been  hereditary  in  the  family,  for  his 
father  played  the  fife  in  the  band  of  the  Masham  Volun- 
teers, and  was  a  singer  in  the  parish  choir.  His  grand- 
father also  was  leading  singer  and  ringer  at  Masham 
Church  ;  and  one  of  the  boy's  earliest  musical  treats  was 
to  be  present  at  the  bell-pealing  on  Sunday  mornings. 
During  the  service,  his  wonder  was  still  more  excited  by 
the  organist's  performance  on  the  barrel-organ,  the  doors 
of  which  were  thrown  open  behind  to  let  the  sound  fully 
into  the  church,  by  which  the  stops,  pipes,  barrels,  staples, 
key-board,  and  jacks,  were  fully  exposed,  to  the  wonder- 
ment of  the  little  boys  sitting  in  the  gallery  behind,  and 
to  none  more  than  our  young  musician.  At  eight  years 
of  age  he  began  to  play  upon  his  father's  old  fife,  which, 
however,  would  not  sound  D  ;  but  his  mother  remedied 
the  difficulty  by  buying  for  him  a  one-keyed  flute  ;  and 
shortly  after,  a  gentleman  of  the  neighborhood  presented 
\\m  with  a  flute  with  four  silver  keys.  As  the  boy  made 


CHAP.  V.  WILLIAM  JACKSON.  177 

no  progress  with  his  "book  learning/'  being  fonder  of 
cricket,  fives,  and  boxing,  than  of  his  school  lessons,  — 
the  village  schoolmaster  giving  him  up  as  "  a  bad  job,"— 
his  parents  sent  him  off  to  a  school  at  Pately  Bridge. 
While  there  he  found  congenial  society  in  a  club  of  vil- 
lage choral  singers  at  Brighouse  Gate,  and  with  them  he 
learned  the  sol-fa-ing  gamut  on  the  old  English  plan. 
He  was  thus  well  drilled  in  the  reading  of  music,  in  which 
he  soon  became  a  proficient.  His  progress  astonished 
the  club,  and  he  returned  home  full  of  musical  ambition. 
He  now  learned  to  play  upon  his  father's  old  piano,  but 
with  little  melodious  result ;  and  he  became  eager  to  pos- 
sess a  imger-organ,  but  had  no  means  of  procuring  one. 
About  this  time,  a  neighboring  parish  clerk  had  purchased, 
for  an  insignificant  sum,  a  small  disabled  barrel-organ, 
which  had  gone  the  circuit  of  the  northern  counties  with 
a  show.  The  clerk  tried  to  revive  the  tones  of  the  in- 
strument, but  failed ;  at  last  he  bethought  him  that  he 
would  try  the  skill  of  young  Jackson,  who  had  succeeded 
in  making  some  alterations  and  improvements  in  the 
hand-organ  of  the  parish  church.  He  accordingly  brought 
it  to  the  lad's  house  in  a  donkey  cart,  and  in  a  short  time 
the  instrument  was  repaired,  and  played  over  its  old  tunes 
again,  greatly  to  the  owner's  satisfaction. 

The  thought  now  haunted  the  youth  that  he  cculd 
make  a  barrel-organ,  and  he  determined  to  do  so.  His 
father  and  he  set  to  work,  and  though  without  practice  in 
carpentering,  yet,  by  dint  of  hard  labor  and  after  many 
failures,  they  at  last  succeeded ;  and  an  organ  was  con- 
structed which  played  ten  tunes  very  decently,  and  the 
instrument  was  generally  regarded  as  the  marvel  of  the 
neighborhood.  Young  Jackson  was  now  frequently  sent 
for  to  repair  old  church  organs,  and  to  put  new  music 
8* 


178  WILLIAM  JACKSON.  CHAP.  V. 

upon  the  barrels  which  he  added  to  them.  All  this  he 
accomplished  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  customers,  aftei 
which  he  proceeded  with  the  construction  of  a  four-stop 
finger-organ,  adapting  to  it  the  keys  of  an  old  harpsi- 
chord. This  he  learned  to  play  upon,  —  studying  "  Call 
cott's  Thorough  Bass  "  in  the  evening,  and  working  at 
his  trade  of  a  miller  during  the  day ;  occasionally  also 
tramping  about  the  country  as  a  "  cadger,"  with  an  ass 
and  a  cart.  During  summer  he  worked  in  the  fields,  at 
turnip-time,  hay-time,  and  harvest,  but  was  never  without 
the  solace  of  music  in  his  leisure  evening  hours.  He 
next  tried  his  hand  at  musical  composition,  and  a  dozen 
of  his  anthems  were  shown  to  the  late  Mr.  Camidge,  of 
York,  as  "  the  production  of  a  miller's  lad  of  fourteen." 
Mr.  Camidge  was  pleased  with  them,  marked  the  objec- 
tionable passages,  and  returned  them  with  the  encourag- 
ing remark,  that  they  did  the  youth  great  credit,  and  that 
he  must  "  go  on  writing." 

A  village  band  having  been  set  on  foot  at  Masham, 
young  Jackson  joined  it,  and  was  ultimately  appointed 
leader.  He  played  all  the  instruments  by  turns,  and  thus 
acquired  a  considerable  practical  knowledge  of  his  art ; 
he  also  composed  numerous  tunes  for  the  band.  A  new 
finger-organ  having  been  presented  to  the  parish  church, 
he  was  further  appointed  organist.  He  now  gave  up  his 
employment  as  a  journeyman  miller,  and  commenced  tal- 
low-chandling,  still  employing  his  spare  hours  in  the 
study  of  music  In  1839  he  published  his  first  anthem, 
—  "  For  joy  let  fertile  valleys  sing  "  ;  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  he  gained  the  first  prize  from  the  Huddersfield 
Glee  Club,  for  his  "  Sisters  of  the  Lea."  His  other  an- 
them, "  God  be  merciful  to  us,"  and  the  103d  Psalm, 
written  for  a  double  chorus  and  orchestra,  are  well 


CHAP  V.  A  SELF-TAUGHT  MUSICIAN.  179 

known.  In  the  midst  of  these  minor  works,  Jackson 
proceeded  with  the  composition  of  his  oratorio,  —  "  The 
Deliverance  of  Israel  from  Babylon."  His  practice  was, 
to  jot  down  a  sketch  of  the  ideas  as  they  presented  them- 
selves to  his  mind,  and  to  write  them  out  in  score  in  the 
evenings,  after  he  had  left  his  work  in  the  candle-shop. 
His  oratorio  was  published  in  parts,  in  the  course  of 
1844-5,  and  he  published  the  last  chorus  on  his  twenty- 
ninth  birthday.  The  work  was  exceedingly  well  received 
by  musical  critics,  and  has  been  frequently  performed 
with  great  success  in  the  northern  towns.  Mr.  Jackson 
is  now  settled  at  Bradford,  and  not  long  since  had  the 
honor  of  leading  his  fine  company  of  Bradford  choral 
singers  before  Her  Majesty  at  Buckingham  Palace ;  on 
which  occasion,  as  well  as  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  some 
fine  choral  pieces  of  his  composition,  from  his  MS.  work 
(since  published),  entitled  "  The  Year,"  were  performed 
with  great  effect. 

Such  is  a  very  brief  outline  of  the  career  of  a  self- 
taught  English  musician,  who  promises,  in  the  maturity 
of  his  powers,  to  take  high  rank  among  native  composers. 
His  life  affords  but  another  illustration  of  the  power  of 
self-help,  and  the  force  of  courage  and  industry,  in  ena- 
bling a  man  to  surmount  and  overcome  early  difficulties 
and  obstructions  of  no  ordinary  kind. 


180  THE  ENGLISH  PEERAGE.  CHAP.  VI 


CHAPTER  VI. 

INDUSTRY   AND    THE    ENGLISH   PEERAGE. 

"  Active  doer,  noble  liver, 
Strong  to  labor,  sure  to  conquer."  —  Browning. 

PRACTICAL  industry,  wisely  and  vigorously  applied, 
never  fails  of  success.  It  carries  a  man  onward  and  up- 
ward, brings  out  his  individual  character,  and  powerfully 
stimulates  the  action  of  others.  All  may  not  rise  equal- 
ly, yet  each,  on  the  whole,  very  much  according  to  his 
deserts.  "  Though  all  cannot  live  on  tne  piazza,"  as  the 
Tuscan  proverb  has  it,  "  every  one  may  feel  the  sun." 

We  have  already  referred  to  some  illustrious  Common- 
ers raised  from  humble  to  elevated  positions  by  the  power 
of  application  and  industry  ;  and  we  might  point  to  even 
the  Peerage  itself  as  affording  equally  instructive  exam- 
ples. One  reason  why  the  peerage  of  England  has  suc- 
ceeded so  well  in  retaining  its  vigor  and  elasticity,  arises 
from  the  fact  that,  unlike  the  peerages  of  other  countries, 
it  has  been  fed  from  time  to  time  by  the  best  industrial 
blood  of  the  country  —  the  very  "  liver,  heart,  and  brain 
of  Britain."  Like  the  fabled  Antaeus,  it  has  been  invig- 
orated and  refreshed  by  frequently  touching  its  mother 
earth,  and  mingling  freely  with  that  most  ancient  order 
of  nobility,  —  the  working  order ;  as  Lord  Chesterfield 
inferentially  admitted  it  to  be  when  he  placed  as  the  first 
of  his  pedigree,  "  ADAM  de  Stanhope,  —  EVE  de  Stan- 
hope" 


CHAP.  VI.  INTERMINGLING  OF  CLASSES.  131 

The  blood  of  all  men  doubtless  flows  from  equally  re- 
mote sources  ;  and  the  proximate  roots  of  most  families 
in  this  country,  nc  t  many  centuries  ago,  closely  intermin- 
gled in  the  common  Teutonic  stock  from  which  we  derive 
our  origin.  The  grand  pervading  features  of  the  race,  — 
industry,  energy,  and  the  spirit  of  independence,  —  have 
ever  remained  the  same.  To  this  day  the  adventurous 
daring  of  the  Vikings  crops  out  from  time  to  time  in  our 
common  soldiers  and  sailors,  as  in  the  aristocratic  officers 
who  lead  them ;  and  the  same  noble  spirit  looks  out  from 
under  the  peasant's  garb  as  well  as  the  peer's  ermine. 

Besides,  there  has  been  a  constant  rising  and  falling  in 
society  going  on,  —  new  families  taking  the  place  of  the 
old,  which  have  subsided  in  many  cases  into  the  ranks 
of  the  common  people.  The  civil  wars  and  rebellions 
ruined  the  old  nobility,  and  dispersed  their  families,  but 
did  not  destroy  them.  They  became  farmers,  mechanics, 
and  laborers,  —  mingling  again  with  the  great  industrial 
race  from  which  they  had  originally  sprung.  Thus,  not 
many  years  since,  the  representative  of  the  earldom  of 
Mar  was  discovered  in  the  person  of  a  laborer  in  a  North- 
umberland coal-pit ;  and  at  this  day,  it  is  understood  that 
the  lineal  representative  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  England's 
premier  baron,  is  a  saddler  in  Tooley  Street.  Hugh  Mil- 
ler, when  working  as  a  stonemason  near  Edinburgh,  was 
served  by  a  hodman,  who  was  one  of  the  numerous  claim- 
ants for  the  earldom  of  Crauford,  —  all  that  was  wanted 
to  establish  his  claim  being  a  missing  marriage  certificate ; 
and  while  the  work  was  going  on,  the  cry  resounded  from 
the  walls  many  times  in  the  day,  of — "  John,  Yearl 
Crauford,  bring  us  anither  hod  o'  lime." 

The  great  bulk  of  our  peerage  is  comparatively  modern, 
so  far  as  the  titles  go ;  but  it  is  not  the  less  noble  that  it 


182  CITIZEN  PEERAGES.  CHAP.  VI. 

has  been  recruited  to  so  large  an  extent  from  the  ranks 
of  honorable  industry.  In  olden  times,  the  wealth  and 
commerce  of  London,  conducted  as  it  was  by  energetic 
and  enterprising  men,  was  a  prolific  source  of  peerages. 
Thus,  the  earldom  of  Cornwallis  was  founded  by  Thomas 
Cornwallis,  the  Cheapside  merchant;  that  of  Essex  by 
William  Capel,  the  draper ;  and  that  of  Craven  by  William 
Craven,  the  merchant  tailor.  The  modern  Earl  of  Warwick 
is  not  descended  from  "  the  Kingmaker,"  but  from  Wil- 
liam Greville,  the  wool-stapler ;  whilst  the  modern  dukes 
of  Northumberland  find  their  head,  not  in  the  Percies, 
but  in  Hugh  Smithson,  a  respectable  London  apothecary. 
The  founders  of  the  families  of  Dartmouth,  Radnor, 
Ducie,  and  Pomfret,  were  respectively  a  skinner,  a  silk 
manufacturer,  a  merchant  tailor,  and  a  Calais  merchant ; 
whilst  the  founders  of  the  peerages  of  Tankerville,  Dor- 
mer, and  Coventry,  were  mercers.  The  ancestors  of 
Earl  Romney,  and  Lord  Dudley  and  Ward,  were  gold- 
smiths and  jewellers ;  and  Lord  Dacres  was  a  banker  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  as  Lord  Overs  tone  is  in  that  of 
Queen  Victoria.  Edward  Osborne,  the  founder  of  the 
dukedom  of  Leeds,  was  apprentice  to  William  Hewet,  a 
rich  clothworker  on  London  Bridge,  whose  only  daughter 
he  courageously  rescued  from  drowning,  by  leaping  into 
the  Thames  after  her,  and  eventually  married.  Among 
other  peerages  founded  by  trade,  are  those  of  Fitzwilliam, 
Leigh,  Petre,  Cowper,  Darnley,  Hill,  and  Carrington. 
The  founders  of  the  houses  of  Foley  and  Normanby 
were  remarkable  men  in  many  respects,  and,  as  furnish- 
ing striking  examples  of  energy  of  character,  the  story 
of  their  lives  is  especially  worthy  of  preservation. 

The  father  of  Richard  Foley,  the  founder  of  the  family, 
was  a  small  yeoman  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stour- 


CHAP.  VI.        RICHARD   FOLEY,  —  NAIL-MAKER.  183 

bridge  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  That  place  was  then 
the  centre  of  the  iron  manufacture  of  the  midland  dis- 
tricts, and  Richard  was  brought  up  to  work  at  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  trade,  —  that  of  nail-making.  He  was 
thus  a  daily  observer  of  the  great  labor  and  loss  of  time 
caused  by  the  clumsy  process  then  adopted  for  dividing 
the  rods  of  iron  in  the  manufacture  of  nails.  It  appeared 
that  the  Stourbridge  nailers  were  gradually  losing  their 
trade,  in  consequence  of  the  importation  of  nails  from 
Sweden,  by  which  they  were  very  much  undersold  in  the 
market.  It  became  known  that  the  Swedes  were  enabled 
to  make  their  nails  so  much  cheaper,  by  the  use  of  split- 
ting mills  and  machinery,  which  had  completely  super- 
seded the  laborious  process  of  preparing  the  rods  for 
nail-making  still  in  use  in  England. 

Richard  Foley,  having  ascertained  this  much,  deter- 
mined to  make  himself  master  of  the  new  process.  Ha 
suddenly  disappeared  from  the  neighborhood  of  Stour- 
bridge, and  was  not  heard  of  for  several  years.  No  one 
knew  where  he  had  gone ;  not  even  his  own  family ;  for 
he  had  not  informed  them  of  his  intention,  lest  he  should 
fail.  He  had  little  or  no  money  in  his  pocket,  but  con- 
trived to  get  to  Hull,  where  he  engaged  himself  on  board 
a  ship  bound  for  a  Swedish  port,  and  worked  his  passage 
there.  The  only  article  of  property  which  he  possessed 
was  his  fiddle,  and  on  landing  in  Sweden  he  begged  and 
fiddled  his  way  to  the  Dannemora  mines,  near  Upsala. 
He  was  a  capital  musician,  as  well  as  a  pleasant  fellow, 
and  soon  ingratiated  himself  with  the  iron-workers.  He 
was  received  into  the  works,  to  every  part  of  which  he 
had  access ;  and  he  seized  the  opportunity  thus  afforded 
him  of  storing  his  mind  with  observations,  and  mastering, 
as  he  thought,  the  mechanism  of  iron-splitting.  After  9 


184  RICHARD   FOLEY,  —  NAIL-MAKER.        CHAP.  VI. 

continued  stay  for  this  purpose,  he  suddenly  disappeared 
from  amongst  his  kind  friends  the  miners,  —  no  one  knew 
whither. 

Arrived  in  England,  he  communicated  the  results  of 
his  voyage  to  Mr.  Knight  and  another  person  at  Stour- 
bridge,  who  had  sufficient  confidence  in  him  to  advance 
the  requisite  funds  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  buildings 
and  machinery  for  splitting  iron  by  the  new  process. 
But  when  set  to  work,  to  the  great  vexation  and  disap- 
pointment of  all,  and  especially  of  Richard  Foley,  it  was 
found  that  the  machinery  would  not  act,  —  at  all  events 
it  would  not  split  the  bars  of  iron.  Again  Foley  disap- 
peared. It  was  thought  that  shame  and  mortification  at 
his  failure  had  driven  him  away  forever.  Not  so  !  Foley 
had  determined  to  master  this  secret  of  iron-splitting,  and 
he  would  yet  do  it.  He  had  again  to  set  out  for  Sweden, 
accompanied  by  his  fiddle  as  before,  and  found  his  way  to 
the  iron-works,  where  he  was  joyfully  welcomed  by  the 
miners ;  and,  to  make  sure  of  their  fiddler,  they  this  time 
lodged  him  in  the  very  splitting-mill  itself.  There  was 
such  an  apparent  absence  of  intelligence  about  the  man, 
except  in  fiddle-playing,  that  the  miners  entertained  no 
suspicions  as  to  the  object  of  their  minstrel,  whom  they 
thus  enabled  to  attain  the  very  end  and  aim  of  his  life. 
He  now  carefully  examined  the  works,  and  soon  dis- 
covered the  cause  of  his  failure.  He  made  drawings  or 
tracings  of  the  machinery  as  well  as  he  could,  for  this 
was  a  branch  of  art  quite  new  to  him  ;  and  after  remain- 
ing at  the  place  long  enough  to  enable  him  to  verify  his 
observations,  and  to  impress  the  mechanical  arrangements 
clearly  and  vividly  on  his  mind,  he  again  left  the  miners, 
reached  a  Swedish  port,  and  took  ship  for  England.  A 
man  of  such  purpose  could  not  but  succeed.  Arrived 


CHAP.  VI.  THE  FOLEY  PEERAGE.  185 

amongst  his  surprised  friends,  he  now  completed  his  ar- 
rangements, and  the  results  were  entirely  successful.  By 
his  skill  and  his  industry  he  soon  laid  the  foundations  of 
an  immense  fortune,  at  the  same  time  that  he  restored  the 
business  of  an  extensive  district.  He  himself  continued, 
during  his  life,  to  superintend  his  trade,  aiding  and  en- 
couraging all  works  of  benevolence  in  his  neighborhood. 
He  founded  and  endowed  a  school  at  Stourbridge ;  and 
his  son  Thomas  (a  great  benefactor  of  Kidderminster), 
who  was  High  Sheriff  of  Worcestershire  in  the  time  of 
*'  The  Rump,"  founded  and  endowed  an  hospital,  still  in 
existence,  for  the  free  education  of  children  at  Old  Swin- 
ford.  All  the  early  Foleys  were  Puritans.  Richard 
Baxter  seems  to  have  been  on  familiar  and  intimate 
terms  with  various  members  of  the  family,  and  makes 
frequent  mention  of  them  in  his  "  Life  and  Times." 
Thomas  Foley,  when  appointed  high  sheriff  of  the  county, 
requested  Baxter  to  preach  the  customary  sermon  before 
him  ;  and  Baxter  in  his  "  Life  "  speaks  of  him  as  "  of  so 
just  and  blameless  dealing,  that  all  men  he  ever  had  to 
do  with  magnified  his  great  integrity  and  honesty,  which 
were  questioned  by  none."  The  family  was  worthily 
ennobled  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second. 

William  Phipps,  the  founder  of  the  Mulgrave  or  Nor- 
manby  family,  was  a  man  quite  as  remarkable  in  his  way 
as  Richard  Foley.  His  father  was  a  gunsmith,  —  a 
robust  Englishman,  —  settled  at  Woolwich,  in  Maine, 
then  forming  part  of  our  English  colonies  in  America. 
He  was  born  in  1651,  one  of  a  family  of  not  fewer  than 
twenty-six  children  (of  whom  twenty-one  were  sons),  whose 
only  fortune  lay  in  their  stout  hearts  and  strong  arms. 
William  seems  to  have  had  a  strong  dash  of  the  Danish 
sea-blood  in  his  veins,  and  did  not  take  kindly  to  the 


186  WILLIAM  PHIPPS,  —  SAILOR.  CHAP.  VI. 

quiet  life  of  a  shepherd  in  which  he  spent  his  early  years. 
By  nature  bold  and  adventurous,  he  longed  to  become  a 
sailor  and  roam  through  the  world.  He  sought  to  join 
some  ship ;  but  not  being  able  to  find  one,  he  apprenticed 
himself  to  a  ship-builder,  with  whom  he  thoroughly  learned 
his  trade,  acquiring  the  arts  of  reading  and  writing  during 
his  leisure  hours.  Having  completed  his  apprenticeship 
and  removed  to  Boston,  he  wooed  and  married  a  widow 
of  some  means,  after  which  he  set  up  a  little  ship-building 
yard  of  his  own,  built  a  ship,  and,  putting  to  sea  in  her, 
he  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade,  which  he  carried  on  in 
a  plodding  and  laborious  way  for  the  space  of  about  ten 
years. 

It  happened  that  one  day,  whilst  passing  through  the 
crooked  streets  of  old  Boston,  he  overheard  some  sailors 
talking  to  each  other  of  a  wreck  which  had  just  taken 
place  off  the  Bahamas ;  that  of  a  Spanish  ship,  supposed 
to  have  much  money  on  board.  His  adventurous  spirit 
was  at  once  kindled,  and  getting  together  a  likely  crew 
without  loss  of  time,  he  set  sail  for  the  Bahamas.  The 
wreck  being  well  in-shore,  he  easily  found  it,  and  succeed- 
ed in  recovering  a  great  deal  of  its  cargo,  but  very  little 
money ;  and  the  result  was,  that  he  barely  defrayed  his 
expenses.  His  success  had  been  such,  however,  as  to 
stimulate  his  enterprising  spirit ;  and  when  he  was  told 
of  another  and  far  more  richly  laden  vessel,  which  had 
been  wrecked  near  Port  le  la  Plata  more  than  half  a 
century  before,  he  forthwith  formed  the  resolution  of  rais- 
ing the  wreck,  or  at  all  events  fishing  up  the  treasure. 

Being  too  poor,  however,  to  undertake  such  an  enter 
prise  without  powerful  help,  he  set  sail  for  England,  in 
the  hope  that  he  might  there  obtain  it.  The  fame  of  his 
success  in  raising  the  wreck  off  the  Bahamas  had  already 


CHAP.  VI.         PHIPPS'S  TEEASUEE-SEEKING  187 

preceded  him.  He  applied  direct  to  the  government ; 
and  by  his  urgent  enthusiasm,  he  succeeded  in  overcom« 
ing  the  usual  inertia  of  official  minds  ;  and  Charles  II. 
eventually  placed  at  his  disposal  the  "  Rose  Algier,"  a 
ship  of  eighteen  guns  and  ninety-five  men,  appointing 
him  to  the  chief  command. 

Phipps  then  set  sail  to  find  the  Spanish  ship  and  fish 
up  the  treasure.  He  reached  the  coast  of  Hispaniola  in 
safety ;  but  how  to  find  the  sunken  ship  was  the  great 
difficulty.  The  fact  of  the  wreck  was  more  than  fifty 
years  old  ;  and  Phipps  had  only  the  traditionary  rumors 
of  the  event  to  work  upon.  There  was  a  wide  coast  to 
explore,  and  an  outspread  ocean,  without  any  trace  what- 
2ver  of  the  wrecked  argosy  beneath  it.  But  the  man 
was  stout  in  heart,  and  full  of  hope.  He  set  his  seamen 
to  work  to  drag  the  coast,  and  for  weeks  they  went  on 
fishing  up  sea-weed,  shingle,  and  bits  of  rock.  No  occu- 
pation could  be  more  trying  to  seamen,  and  they  began 
to  grumble  together,  and  to  whisper  that  the  man  in  com- 
mand had  brought  them  on  a  fool's  errand. 

At  length  the  murmurs  spoke  aloud,  and  the  men 
broke  into  open  mutiny.  A  body  of  them  rushed  one 
day  on  to  the  quarter-deck,  and  demanded  that  the  voy- 
age should  be  relinquished.  Phipps,  however,  was  not  a 
man  to  be  intimidated ;  he  seized  the  ringleaders,  and 
sent  the  others  back  to  their  duty.  It  became  necessary 
to  bring  the  ship  to  anchor  close  to  a  small  island  for  the 
purpose  of  repairs  ;  and,  to  lighten  her,  the  chief  part  of  the 
stores  were  landed.  Discontent  still  increasing  amongst 
the  crew,  a  new  plot  was  laid  amongst  the  men  on  shore 
to  seize  the  ship,  throw  Phipps  overboard,  and  start  on  a 
piratical  cruise  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  South  Seas. 
But  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  services  of  the  chief 


188  PHIPPS  QUELLS  A  MUTINY.          CHAP.  VL 

ship-carpenter,  who  was  consequently  made  privy  to  the 
plot.  The  man  proved  faithful,  and  seized  an  opportunity 
of  telling  Phipps  of  his  danger.  Summoning  about  him 
the  men  he  knew  to  be  loyal,  he  had  the  ship's  guns  load 
3d  which  commanded  the  shore,  and  the  bridge  communi- 
cating with  the  vessel  drawn  up.  When  the  mutineers 
made  their  appearance,  Phipps  hailed  them,  and  told 
them  he  would  fire  upon  them  if  they  approached  the 
stores  (still  on  land),  and  they  drew  back;  on  which, 
Phipps  had  the  stores  reshipped  under  cover  of  his  guns. 
The  mutineers,  fearful  of  being  left  on  a  barren  island, 
threw  down  their  arms  and  implored  to  be  permitted  to 
return  to  their  duty.  The  request  was  granted,  and 
suitable  precautions  were  taken  against  future  mischief. 
Phipps  took  the  first  opportunity  of  landing  the  mutinous 
part  of  his  crew,  and  engaging  other  men  in  their  place ; 
but,  by  the  time  he  could  again  proceed  actively  with  his 
explorations,  he  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  proceed 
to  England  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  his  ship.  He 
had  now,  however,  gained  more  precise  information  as  to 
the  spot  where  the  Spanish  treasure-ship  had  sunk  ;  and, 
though  as  yet  baffled,  he  was  more  confident  than  ever  in 
the  eventual  success  of  his  enterprise. 

Returned  to  London,  Phipps  reported  the  result  of  his 
voyage  to  the  Admiralty,  who  professed  to  be  pleased 
with  his  exertions ;  but  he  had  been  unsuccessful,  and 
they  would  not  intrust  him  with  another  king's  ship. 
James  II.  was  now  on  the  throne,  and  the  government 
was  in  trouble  ;  so  Phipps  and  his  golden  project  ap- 
pealed to  them  in  vain.  He  next  tried  to  raise  the 
requisite  means  by  a  public  subscription.  At  first  he 
was  laughed  at ;  but  his  ceaseless  importunity  at  length 
prevailed,  and  after  four  years'  dinning  of  his  project  into 


.  VI.  SUCCESS  OF  PHIPPS.  189 

the  ears  of  the  great,  —  during  which  time  he  lived  in 
great  poverty,  —  he  at  length  succeeded.  A  company 
was  formed,  in  twenty  shares,  the  Duke  of  Albemarle, 
eon  of  General  Monk,  taking  the  chief  interest  in  it,  and 
subscribing  the  principal  part  of  the  necessary  funds  for 
the  enterprise. 

Like  Foley,  Phipps  proved  more  fortunate  in  his  sec- 
ond voyage  than  in  his  first.  The  ship  arrived  without 
accident  at  Port  de  la  Plata,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
reef  of  rocks  supposed  to  have  been  the  scene  of  the 
wreck.  His  first  object  was  to  build  a  stout  boat  capable 
of  carrying  eight  or  ten  oars,  in  constructing  which 
Phipps  used  the  adze  himself.  It  is  also  said  that  he 
constructed  a  machine,  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  similar  to  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Diving-Bell.  Such  a  machine  was  found  referred  to  in 
books,  but  Phipps  knew  little  of  books,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  reinvented  the  apparatus  for  his  own  use.  He  also 
engaged  Indian  divers,  whose  feats  of  diving  for  pearls, 
and  in  submarine  operations,  were  very  remarkable.  The 
tender  and  boat  having  been  taken  to  the  reef,  the  men 
were  set  to  work,  the  diving-bell  was  sunk,  and  the  vari- 
ous modes  of  dragging  the  bottom  of  the  sea  were  em- 
ployed continuously  for  many  weeks,  but  without  any 
prospect  of  success.  Phipps,  however,  held  on  valiantly, 
hoping  almost  against  hope.  At  length,  one  day,  a  sailor, 
looking  over  the  boat's  side  down  into  the  clear  water, 
observed  a  curious  sea-plant  growing  in  what  appeared  to 
be  a  crevice  of  the  rock ;  and  he  called  upon  an  Indian 
diver  to  go  down  and  fetch  it  for  him.  On  the  red  man 
coming  up  with  the  weed,  he  reported  that  a  number 
of  ship's  guns  were  lying  in  the  same  place.  The  intelli- 
gence was  at  first  received  with  incredulity,  but  on  fur- 


190  HIS   HIGH   CHARACTER.  CHAP.  VI. 

ther  investigation  it  proved  to  be  correct.  Search  was 
made,  and  presently  a  diver  came  up  with  a  solid  bar  of 
silver  in  his  arms.  When  Phipps  was  shown  it,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Thanks  be  to  God !  we  are  all  made  men." 
Diving-bell  and  divers  now  went  to  work  with  a  will,  and 
in  a  few  days,  treasure  was  brought  up  to  the  value  of 
about  £300,000,  with  which  Phipps  set  sail  for  England. 
On  his  arrival,  it  was  urged  upon  the  king  that  he  should 
seize  the  ship  and  its  cargo,  under  the  pretence  that 
Phipps,  when  soliciting  his  Majesty's  permission,  had  not 
given  accurate  information  respecting  the  business.  But 
the  king  replied,  that  he  knew  Phipps  to  be  an  honest 
man,  and  that  he  and  his  friends  should  divide  the  whole 
treasure  amongst  them,  even  though  he  had  returned  with 
double  the  value.  Phipps's  share  was  about  £20,000, 
and  the  king,  to  show  his  approval  of  his  energy  and 
honesty  in  conducting  the  enterprise,  conferred  upon  him 
the  honor  of  knighthood.  He  was  also  made  High  Sheriff 
of  New  England  ;  and  during  the  time  he  held  the  office, 
he  did  valiant  service  for  the  mother-country  and  the 
colonists  against  the  French,  by  expeditions  against  Port 
Royal  and  Quebec.  He  also  held  the  post  of  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  ;  from  which  he  returned  to  England, 
and  died  in  London  in  1695. 

Phipps  throughout  the  later  part  of  his  career  was  not 
ashamed  to  allude  to  the  lowness  of  his  origin,  and  it  was 
matter  of  honest  pride  to  him  that  he  had  risen  from  the 
condition  of  a  common  ship-carpenter  to  the  honors  of 
knighthood  and  the  government  of  a  province.  When 
perplexed  with  public  business,  he  would  often  declare 
that  it  would  be  easier  for  him  to  go  back  to  his  broad 
axe  again.  He  left  behind  him  a  character  for  prob- 
ity, honesty,  patriotism,  and  courage,  which  is  certainly 


CHAP.  VI.  SIR  WILLIAM  PETTY.  191 

not  the  least  noble  inheritance  of  the  house  of   Nor- 
manby. 

William  Petty,  the  founder  of  the  house  of  Lansdowne, 
was  a  man  of  like  energy  and  public  usefulness  in  hia 
day.  He  was  the  son  of  a  clothier  in  humble  circum- 
stances, at  Rorasey,  in  Hampshire,  and  was  born  in 
1623.  In  his  boyhood  he  obtained  a  tolerable  education 
at  the  grammar-school  of  his  native  town ;  after  which 
he  determined  to  improve  himself  by  study  at  the 
University  of  Caen,  in  Normandy.  Whilst  there  he 
contrived  to  support  himself,  unassisted  by  his  father, 
carrying  on  a  sort  of  small  peddler's  trade  with  "  a  little 
stock  of  merchandise."  Returning  to  England,  he  had 
himself  bound  apprentice  to  a  sea-captain,  who  "  drubbed 
him  with  a  rope's  end  "  for  the  badness  of  his  sight.  He 
left  the  navy  in  disgust,  taking  to  the  study  of  medicine. 
When  at  Paris  he  engaged  in  dissection,  during  which 
time  he  also  drew  diagrams  for  Hobbes,  who  was  then 
writing  his  treatise  on  Optics.  He  was  reduced  to  such 
poverty  that  he  subsisted  for  two  or  three  weeks  entirely 
on  walnuts.  But  again  he  began  to  trade  in  a  small  way, 
turning  an  honest  penny,  and  he  was  enabled  shortly  to 
return  to  England  with  money  in  his  pocket.  Being  of 
an  ingenious  mechanical  turn,  we  find  him  taking  out  H 
patent  for  a  letter-copying  machine.  He  began  to  write 
upon  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  practised  chemistry  and 
physic  with  such  success  that  his  reputation  shortly  be- 
came considerable.  Associating  with  men  of  science,  the 
project  of  forming  a  Society  for  its  prosecution  was  dis- 
cussed, and  the  first  meetings  of  the  infant  Royal  Society 
were  held  at  his  lodgings.  At  Oxford  he  acted  for  a 
time  as  deputy  to  the  anatomical  professor  there,  who 
had  a  great  repugnance  to  dissection.  In  1652  his  in 


192  SIR  WILLIAM  PETTY.  CHAP.  VI 

dustry  was  rewarded  by  the  appointment  of  physician  to 
the  army  in  Ireland,  whither  he  went ;  and  whilst  there 
he  was  the  medical  attendant  of  three  successive  lords- 
lieutenant,  Lambert,  Fleetwood,  and  Henry  Cromwell. 
Large  grants  of  forfeited  land  having  been  awarded  to 
the  Puritan  soldiery,  Petty  observed  that  the  lands  were 
very  inaccurately  measured;  and  in  the  midst  of  his 
many  avocations  he  undertook  to  do  the  work  himself. 
His  appointments  became  so  numerous  and  lucrative  that 
he  was  charged  by  the  envious  with  corruption,  and  re- 
moved from  them  all ;  but  was  again  taken  into  favor 
at  the  Restoration. 

Petty  was  a  most  indefatigable  contriver,  inventor,  and 
organizer  of  industry.  One  of  his  inventions  was  a 
double-bottomed  ship,  to  sail  against  wind  and  tide.  He 
published  treatises  on  dyeing,  on  naval  philosophy,  on 
woollen  cloth  manufacture,  on  political  arithmetic,  and 
many  other  subjects.  He  founded  iron-works,  opened 
lead-mines,  and  commenced  a  pilchard  fishery  and  a  tim- 
ber-trade ;  in  the  midst  of  which  he  found  time  to  take 
part  in  the  discussions  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  which  he 
largely  contributed.  He  left  an  ample  fortune  to  his 
eons,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  created  Baron  Shelburne. 
His  will  was  a  curious  document,  singularly  illustrative 
of  his  character ;  containing  a  detail  of  the  principal 
events  of  his  life,  and  the  gradual  advancement  of  his 
fortune.  His  sentiments  on  pauperism  are  characteristic : 
"As  for  legacies  for  the  poor,"  said  he,  "  I  am  at  a  stand ; 
as  for  beggars  by  trade  and  election,  I  give  them  nothing ; 
as  for  impotents  by  the  hand  of  God,  the  public  ought  to 
maintain  them  ;  as  for  those  who  have  been  bred  to  no 
calling  nor  estate,  they  should  be  put  upon  their  kin- 
dred ;"..."  wherefore  I  am  contented  that  I  have 


CHAP.  VI.  JEDEDIAH  STRUTT.  193 

assisted  all  my  poor  relations,  and  put  many  into  a  way 
of  getting  their  own  bread ;  have  labored  in  public  works ; 
and  by  inventions  have  sought  out  real  objects  of  charity  ; 
and  I  do  hereby  conjure  all  who  partake  of  my  estate, 
from  time  to  time,  to  do  the  same  at  their  peril.  Never- 
theless, to  answer  custom,  and  to  take  the  surer  side, 
I  give  20/.  to  the  most  wanting  of  the  parish  wherein 
I  die."  He  was  interred  in  the  fine  old  Norman  church 
of  Romsey,  —  the  town  where  he  was  born  a  poor  man's 
son,  —  and  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir  is  still  to  be 
seen  a  plain  slab,  with  the  inscription,  cut  by  an  illiterate 
workman,  "  Here  Layes  Sir  William  Petty." 

Another  family,  ennobled  by  invention  and  trade,  in 
our  own  day,  is  that  of  Strutt,  of  Belper.  Their  patent 
of  nobility  was  virtually  secured  by  Jedediah  Strutt  in 
1758,  when  he  invented  his  machine  for  making  ribbed 
stockings,  and  thereby  laid  the  foundations  of  a  fortune 
which  the  subsequent  bearers  of  the  name  have  largely 
increased  and  nobly  employed.  The  father  of  Jedediah 
was  a  farmer  and  maltster,  who  did  very  little  for  the 
education  of  his  children  ;  yet  they  all  prospered.  Jede- 
diah was  the  second  son,  and  while  occupied  as  a  farmer 
at  Blackwell,  near  Normanton,  he  learned  from  his  wife's 
brother,  who  was  a  hosier,  and  well  acquainted  with  the 
stocking-frame,  that  some  unsuccessful  attempts  had  been 
made  to  manufacture  ribbed  stockings  upon  it.  Being 
naturally  ingenious,  and  self-trained  in  mechanics,  he  was 
induced  to  investigate  the  operations  of  the  stocking- 
frame  ;  and  after  the  sacrifice  of  considerable  time,  labor, 
and  means,  he  at  length  succeeded  in  perfecting  his  in- 
vention. A  manufactory  of  ribbed  stockings  was  then 
started  by  him  at  Derby,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother, 
and  proved  eminently  successful.  He  afterwards  joined 
9 


19-1  PEERAGES  FOUNDED  BY  LAWYERS.    CHAP.  VI. 

Arkwright,  —  being  quick  to  detect  the  value  of  his  in- 
vention for  cotton-spinning,  —  found  the  means  for  secur- 
ing his  patent,  and  established  extensive  cotton-mills  at 
Cromford,  in  Derbyshire.  Mr.  Edward  Strutt  was  of 
like  inventive  genius  to  his  father,  and  he  is  said  to  have 
invented  a  self-acting  mule,  the  success  of  which  was  only 
prevented  by  the  mechanical  skill  of  that  day  not  being 
equal  to  its  manufacture.  After  the  lapse  of  the  partner- 
ship with  Arkwright,  the  Strutts  erected  their  cotton- 
mills  at  Milford,  near  Belper,  which  worthily  gives  its 
title  to  the  present  head  of  the  family. 

No  less  industry  and  energy  have  been  displayed  by 
the  many  brave  men  both  in  present  and  past  times,  who 
have  earned  the  peerage  by  their  valor  on  land  and  at  sea. 
Not  to  mention  the  older  feudal  lords,  whose  tenure  de- 
pended upon  military  service,  and  who  so  often  led  the 
van  of  the  English  armies  in  great  national  encounters  ; 
we  may  point  to  Nelson,  St.  Vincent,  and  Lyons,  —  to 
Wel&ngton,  Hill,  Hardinge,  Clyde,  and  many  more  in 
recent  times,  who  have  nobly  earned  their  rank  by  their 
distinguished  services.  But  plodding  industry  has  far 
oftener  worked  its  way  to  the  peerage  by  the  honorable 
pursuit  of  the  legal  profession,  than  by  any  other.  No 
fewer  than  seventy  British  peerages,  including  two  duke- 
doms, have  been  founded  by  successful  lawyers.  Mans- 
field and  P>skine  were,  it  is  true,  of  noble  families  ;  but 
the  latter  used  to  thank  God,  that  out  of  his  own  family 
he  did  not  know  a  lord.*  The  others  were,  for  the  most 

*  Mansfield  owed  nothing  to  his  noble  relations,  who  were  poor 
and  uninflueutial.  His  success  was  the  legitimate  and  logical  result 
of  ths  means  which  he  sedulously  employed  to  secure  it.  When  a 
boy  he  rode  up  from  Scotland  to  London  on  a  pony,  —  taking  two 
months  to  make  the  journey.  After  a  course  of  school  and  college,  he 
entered  npon  the  profession  of  the  law,  and  he  closed  a  career  of 


CHAP.  VI.  LORD  TENTERDEN.  11)5 

part,  the  sons  of  attorneys,  grocers,  clergymen,  merchants 
and  hard-working  members  of  the  middle  class.  Out  of 
this  profession  have  sprung  the  peerages  of  Howard  and 
Cavendish,  the  first  peers  of  both  families  having  been 
judges ;  those  of  Aylesford,  Ellenborough,  Guildford, 
Shaftesbury,  Hardwicke,  Cardigan,  Clarendon,  Camden, 
Ellesmere,  Rosslyn ;  and  others  nearer  our  own  day,  such 
as  Tenterden,  Eldon,  Brougham,  Denman,  Truro,  Lynd- 
hurst,  St.  Leonards,  Cranworth,  Campbell,  and  Chelms- 
ford. 

The  eminent  Lord  Lyndhurst's  father  was  a  portrait- 
painter,  and  that  of  St.  Leonards  a  hairdresser  in  Bur- 
lington Street.  Young  Edward  Sugden  was  originally 
an  errand-boy  in  the  office  of  the  late  Mr.  Groom,  of 
Henrietta  Street,  Cavendish  Square,  a  certificated  con- 
veyancer ;  and  it  was  there  that  the  future  Lord  Chan- 
cellor of  Ireland  obtained  his  first  notions  of  law. 
The  origin  of  the  late  Lord  Tenterden  was  perhaps 
the  humblest  of  all,  nor  was  he  ashamed  of  it ;  for 
he  felt  that  the  industry,  study,  and  application,  by 
means  of  which  he  achieved  his  eminent  position,  were 
entirely  due  to  himself.  It  is  related  of  him,  that  on 
one  occasion  he  took  his  son  Charles  to  a  little  shed 
then  standing  opposite  the  western  front  of  Canterbury 
Cathedral,  and  pointing  it  out  to  him,  said,  "  Charles, 
you  see  this  little  shop;  I  have  brought  you  here  on 
purpose  to  show  it  to  you.  In  that  shop  your  grand- 
father used  to  shave  for  a  penny !  that  is  the  proudest 
reflection  of  my  life."  When  a  boy,  Lord  Tenterden 
was  a  singer  in  the  cathedral,  and  it  is  a  curious  cir- 

oatient  and  ceaseless  labor  as  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  —  the 
functions  of  which  he  is  universally  admitted  to  have  performed 
vith  unsurpassed  ability,  justice,  and  honor. 


19  G  CAREER  OF  LORD  ELDON.  CHAP.  VI. 

cumstance  that  his  destination  in  life  was  changed  by  a 
disappointment.  When  he  and  Mr.  Justice  Richards 
were  going  the  Home  Circuit  together,  they  went  to  ser- 
vice in  the  cathedral ;  and  on  Richards  commending  the 
voice  of  a  singing-man  in  the  choir,  Lord  Tenterden  said, 
"Ah !  that  is  the  only  man  I  ever  envied !  When  at 
school  in  this  town,  we  were  candidates  for  a  chorister's 
place,  and  he  obtained  it." 

Not  less  remarkable  was  the  rise  to  the  same  distin- 
guished office  of  Lord  Chief  Justice,  of  the  rugged  Ken- 
yon  and  the  robust  Ellenborough ;  nor  is  he  a  less  nota- 
ble man  who  recently  held  the  same  office,  —  the  astute 
Lord  Campbell,  now  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  son 
of  a  parish  minister  in  Fifeshire.  For  many  years  he 
worked  hard  as  a  reporter  for  the  press,  while  diligently 
preparing  himself  for  the  practice  of  his  profession.  It 
is  said  of  him,  that  at  the  beginning  of  his  career,  he 
was  accustomed  to  walk  from  county-town  to  county- 
town  when  on  circuit,  being  as  yet  too  poor  to  afford 
the  luxury  of  posting.  But  step  by  step  he  rose  slowly 
but  surely  to  that  eminence  and  distinction  which  ever 
follow  a  career  of  industry,  honorably  and  energetically 
pursued,  in  the  legal,  as  in  every  other  profession. 

There  have  been  equally  illustrious  instances  of  Lords 
Chancellors  who  have  plodded  up  the  steep  of  fame  and 
honor  with  equal  energy  and  success.  The  career  of 
the  late  Lord  Eldon,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able examples.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Newcastle  coal- 
fitter  ;  a  mischievous  rather  than  a  studious  boy ;  a  great 
Bcape-grace  at  school,  and  the  subject  of  many  terrible 
thrashings,  —  for  orchard-robbing  was  one  of  the  favor- 
ite exploits  of  the  future  Lord  Chancellor.  His  father 
first  thought  of  putting  him  apprentice  to  a  grocer,  and 


CHAP.  VI.      CAREER  OF  LORD  ELDON.          197 

afterwards  had  almost  made  up  his  mind  to  bring  him 
up  to  his  own  trade  of  a  coal-fitter.  But  by  this  time  his 
eldest  son  William  (afterwards  Lord  Stowell)  who  had 
gained  a  scholarship  at  Oxford,  wrote  to  his  father, 
"  Send  Jack  up  to  me,  I  can  do  better  for  him."  John 
was  sent  up  to  Oxford  accordingly,  where,  by  his  broth- 
er's influence  and  his  own  application,  he  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  fellowship.  But  when  at  home  during  the 
vacation,  he  was  so  unfortunate,  —  or  rather  so  fortunate, 
as  the  issue  proved,  —  as  to  fall  in  love ;  and  running 
across  the  Border  with  his  eloped  bride,  he  married, 
and,  as  his  friends  thought,  ruined  himself  for  life.  He 
had  neither  house  nor  home  when  he  married,  and  had 
not  yet  earned  a  penny.  He  lost  his  fellowship,  and  at 
the  same  time  shut  himself  out  from  preferment  in  the 
Church,  for  which  he  had  been  destined.  He  accord- 
ingly turned  his  attention  to  the  study  of  the  law.  To  a 
friend  he  wrote,  "  I  have  married  rashly ;  but  it  is  my  de- 
termination to  work  hard  to  provide  for  the  woman  I  love." 
John  Scott  came  up  to  London,  and  took  a  small  house 
in  Cursitor  Lane,  where  he  settled  down  to  the  study  of 
the  law.  He  worked  with  great  diligence  and  resolu- 
tion; rising  at  four  every  morning,  and  studying  till 
late  at  night,  binding  a  wet  towel  round  his  head  to 
keep  himself  awake.  Too  poor  to  study  under  a  spe- 
cial pleader,  he  copied  out  three  folio  volumes  from  a 
manuscript  collection  of  precedents.  Long  after,  when 
Lord  Chancellor,  passing  down  Cursitor  Lane  one  day, 
he  said  to  his  secretary,  "Here  was  my  first  perch; 
many  a  time  do  I  recollect  coming  down  this  street  with 
sixpence  in  my  hand  to  buy  sprats  for  supper."  When 
at  length  called  to  the  bar,  he  waited  long  for  employ- 
ment. His  first  year's  earnings  amounted  to  only  nine 


198         CAREER  OF  LORD  ELDON.      CHAP.  VI. 

shillings.  For  four  years  he  assiduously  attended  the 
London  courts  and  the  Northern  Circuit,  with  little  bet- 
ter success.  Even  in  his  native  town,  he  seldom  had 
other  than  pauper  cases  to  defend.  The  results  were 
indeed  so  discouraging,  that  he  had  almost  determined 
to  relinquish  his  chance  of  London  business,  and  settle 
down  in  some  provincial  town  as  a  country  barrister. 
His  brother  William  wrote  home,  "  Business  is  dull 
with  poor  Jack,  very  dull  indeed ! "  But  as  he  had  es- 
caped being  a  grocer,  a  coal-fitter,  and  a  country  parson, 
so  did  he  also  escape  being  a  country  lawyer. 

An  opportunity  at  length  occurred,  which  enabled 
John  Scott  to  exhibit  the  large  legal  knowledge  which 
he  had  so  laboriously  acquired.  In  a  case  in  which  he 
was  employed,  he  urged  a  legal  point  against  the  wishes 
both  of  the  attorney  and  client  who  employed  him.  The 
Master  of  the  Rolls  decided  against  him,  but  on  an  ap- 
peal to  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Thurlow  reversed  the 
decision  on  the  very  point  that  Scott  had  urged.  On 
leaving  the  House  that  day,  a  solicitor  tapped  him  on 
the  shoulder  and  said,  "  Young  man,  your  bread-and- 
butter's  cut  for  life."  And  the  prophecy  proved  a  faith- 
ful one.  Lord  Mansfield  used  to  say  that  he  knew  no 
interval  between  no  business  and  3,0001.  a  year,  and 
Scott  might  have  told  the  same  story ;  for  so  rapid  was 
his  progress,  that  in  1783,  when  only  thirty-two,  he  was 
appointed  King's  Counsel,  was  at  the  head  of  the  North- 
ern Circuit,  and  sat  in  Parliament  for  the  borough  of 
Weobley.  It  was  in  the  dull  but  unflinching  drudgery 
of  the  early  part  of  his  career  that  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  future  success.  He  won  his  spurs  by  perseverance, 
knowledge,  and  ability,  diligently  cultivated ;  he  was  suc- 
cessively appointed  to  the  offices  of  solicitor  and  attor- 


CHAP.  VI.  LORD  LANGDALE.  109 

ney-general,  and  rose  steadily  upwards  to  the  highest 
office  that  the  Crown  had  to  bestow,  —  that  of  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England,  which  he  held  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Henry  Bickersteth  was  the  son  of  a  surgeon  at  Kirkby 
Lonsdale,  in  Westmoreland,  and  was  himself  educated  to 
that  profession.  As  a  student  at  Edinburgh,  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  steadiness  with  which  he  worked, 
and  the  application  which  he  devoted  to  the  science  of 
medicine.  Returned  to  Kirkby  Lonsdale,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  his  father's  practice  ;  but  he  had  no  liking 
for  the  profession,  and  grew  discontented  with  the  ob- 
scurity of  a  country  town.  He  went  on,  nevertheless, 
diligently  improving  himself,  and  engaged  in  specula- 
tions in  the  higher  branches  of  physiology.  In  con- 
formity with  his  own  wish,  his  father  consented  to  send 
him  to  Cambridge,  where  it  was  his  ambition  to  take 
a  medical  degree,  with  the  view  of  practising  in  the  me- 
tropolis. Close  application  to  his  studies  threw  him  out 
of  health,  however,  and  with  a  view  to  reestablishing 
his  strength  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  travelling 
physician  to  Lord  Oxford.  While  abroad  he  mastered 
Italian,  and  acquired  a  great  admiration  for  Italian  lit- 
erature, but  no  greater  liking  for  medicine  than  before. 
On  the  contrary  he  determined  to  abandon  it;  but  re- 
turning to  Cambridge,  he  took  his  degree,  and  that  he 
worked  hard  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was 
senior  wrangler  of  his  year.  Disappointed  in  his  desire 
to  enter  the  army,  he  turned  to  the  bar,  and  entered  a 
student  of  the  Inner  Temple.  He  worked  as  hard  at 
law  as  he  had  done  at  medicine.  Writing  to  his  father, 
he  said,  "  Everybody  says  to  me,  '  You  are  certain  of 
success  in  the  end,  —  only  persevere ; '  and  though  I 


200  LOKD  LANGDALE.  CHAP.  VI. 

don't  well  understand  how  this  is  to  happen,  I  try  to 
believe  it  as  much  as  I  can,  and  I  shall  not  fail  to 
do  everything  in  my  power."  At  twenty-eight  he  was 
called  to  the  bar,  and  had  every  step  in  life  yet  to  make. 
His  means  were  straitened,  and  he  lived  upon  the  con- 
tributions of  his  friends.  For  years  he  studied  and 
waited.  Still  no  business  came.  He  stinted  himself 
in  recreation,  in  clothes,  and  even  in  the  necessaries  of 
life ;  struggling  on  indefatigably  through  all.  "Writing 
home  he  "  confesses  that  he  hardly  knows  how  he  shall 
be  able  to  struggle  on  till  he  has  had  fair  time  and  op- 
portunity to  establish  himself."  After  three  years'  wait- 
ing thus  without  success,  he  wrote  to  his  friends  that, 
rather  than  be  a  burden  upon  them  longer,  he  is  willing 
to  give  the  matter  up  and  return  to  Cambridge,  "  where 
he  is  sure  of  support  and  some  profit."  The  friends  at 
home  sent  him  another  small  remittance,  and  he  went  on. 
Business  gradually  came  in.  Acquitting  himself  credit- 
ably in  small  matters,  he  was  intrusted  with  cases  of 
greater  importance.  He  was  a  man  who  never  missed 
an  opportunity,  nor  allowed  a  legitimate  chance  of  im- 
provement to  escape  him.  His  unflinching  industry 
soon  began  to  tell  upon  his  fortunes ;  a  few  more  years 
and  he  was  not  only  enabled  to  do  without  assistance 
from  home,  but  he  was  in  a  position  to  pay  back  with 
interest  the  debts  which  he  had  incurred.  The  clouds 
had  dispersed,  and  the  after-career  of  Henry  Bicker- 
steth  was  one  of  honor,  of  emolument,  and  of  distin- 
guished fame.  He  ended  his  career  as  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  sitting  in  the  House  of  Peers  as  Baron  Langdale. 
His  life  affords  only  another  illustration  of  the  power  of 
patience,  perseverance,  and  conscientious  working,  in 
elevating  the  character  of  the  individual,  and  crowning 
his  labors  with  the  most  complete  success. 


CHAP.  VI.  LORD  LANGDALE.  201 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  distinguished  men  who  have 
honorably  worked  their  way  to  the  highest  position,  and 
won  the  richest  rewards  of  their  profession,  by  the  exer- 
cise of  honest  industry  and  patient  perseverance. 


202  TEUTONIC  ENERGY.  CHAP.  VI* 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ENERGY  AND    COURAGE. 

"  Den  muthigen  gehort  die  Welt."  —  German  Proverb. 
"  In  every  work  that  he  began    .    .    .    he  did  it  with  all  his  heart,  and 
prospered."  — 2   Chron.  xxxi.  21. 

THERE  is  a  famous  speech  recorded  of  an  old  Norse- 
man, thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  Teuton.  "  I  believe 
neither  in  idols  nor  demons,"  said  he,  "  I  put  my  sole  trust 
in  my  own  strength  of  body  and  soul."  The  ancient  crest 
of  a  pickaxe,  with  the  motto  of  "  Either  I  will  find  a  way 
or  make  one,"  was  an  expression  of  the  same  sturdy  inde- 
pendence and  practical  materialism,  which  to  this  day  dis- 
tinguishes the  descendants  of  the  Northmen.  Indeed, 
nothing  could  be  more  characteristic  of  the  Scandinavian 
mythology,  than  that  it  had  a  god  with  a  hammer.  A 
man's  character  is  seen  in  small  matters ;  and  from  even 
so  slight  a  test  as  the  mode  in  which  a  man  wields  a 
hammer,  his  energy  may  in  some  measure  be  inferred. 
Thus  an  eminent  Frenchman  hit  off  in  a  single  phrase 
the  characteristic  quality  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  partic- 
ular district,  in  which  a  friend  of  his  proposed  to  settle 
and  buy  land.  "  Beware,"  said  he,  "  of  making  a  pur- 
chase there  ;  I  know  the  men  of  that  department ;  the 
pupils  who  come  from  it  to  our  veterinary  school  at  Paris, 
do  not  strike  hard  upon  the  anvil ;  they  want  energy ;  and 


CHAP.  VII.  FORCE  OF  PURPOSE.  203 

you  will  not  get  a  satisfactory  return  on  any  capital  you 
may  invest  there."  A  fine  and  just  appreciation  of  char- 
acter, indicating  the  accurate  and  thoughtful  observer  ; 
and  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  fact  that  it  is  the  energy 
of  the  individual  men  that  gives  strength  to  a  state,  and 
confers  a  value  even  upon  the  very  soil  which  they  cul- 
tivate. As  the  French  proverb  has  it :  "  Tant  vaut 
1'homme,  tant  vaut  sa  terre." 

The  cultivation  of  this  quality  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance ;  resolute  determination  in  the  pursuit  of  worthy 
objects  being  the  foundation  of  all  true  greatness  of  char- 
acter. Energy  enables  a  man  to  force  his  way  through 
irksome  drudgery  and  dry  details,  and  carries  him  onward 
and  upward  in  every  station  in  life.  It  accomplishes 
more  than  genius,  with  not  one  half  the  disappointment 
and  peril.  It  is  not  eminent  talent  that  is  required 
to  insure  success  in  any  pursuit  so  much  as  purpose,  — 
not  merely  the  power  to  achieve,  but  the  will  to  labor 
energetically  and  perseveringly.  Hence  energy  of  will 
may  be  defined  to  be  the  very  central  power  of  character 
in  a  man,  —  in  a  word,  it  is  the  Man  himself.  It  gives 
impulse  to  his  every  action,  and  soul  to  every  effort. 
True  hope  is  based  on  it,  —  and  it  is  hope  that  gives  the 
real  perfume  to  life.  There  is  a  fine  heraldic  motto  on  a 
broken  helmet  in  Battle  Abbey,  "  L'espoir  est  ma  force," 
which  might  be  the  motto  of  every  man's  life.  "  Woe 
unto  him  that  is  faint-hearted,"  says  the  son  of  Sirach. 
There  is,  indeed,  no  blessing  equal  to  the  possession  of  a 
stout  heart.  Even  if  a  man  fail  in  his  efforts,  it  will  be 
a  great  satisfaction  to  him  to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of 
having  done  his  best.  In  humble  life  nothing  can  be 
more  cheering  and  beautiful  than  to  see  a  man  combat- 
ing suffering  by  patience,  triumphing  in  his  integrity,  and 


204  COURAGEOUS  WORKING.  CHAP.  VII 

who,  when  his  feet  are  bleeding  and  his  limbs  failing  him, 
still  walks  upon  his  courage. 

Mere  wishes  and  desires  but  engender  a  sort  of  green* 
sickness  in  young  minds,  unless  they  are  promptly  em-' 
bodied  in  act  and  deed.  It  will  not  avail  merely  to 
wait,  as  so  many  do,  "  until  Blucher  comes  up,"  but 
they  must  struggle  on  and  persevere  in  the  mean  time, 
as  Wellington  did.  The  good  purpose  once  formed 
must  be  carried  out  with  alacrity,  and  without  swerving. 
In  many  walks  of  life  drudgery  and  toil  must  be  cheer- 
fully endured  as  the  necessary  discipline  of  life.  Hugh 
Miller  says,  the  only  school  in  which  he  was  properly 
taught  was  "that  world- wide  school  in  which  toil  and 
hardship  are  the  severe  but  noble  teachers."  He  who 
allows  his  application  to  falter,  or  shirks  his  work  on  friv- 
olous pretexts,  is  on  the  sure  road  to  ultimate  failure. 
Let  any  task  be  undertaken  as  a  thing  not  possible  to  be 
evaded,  and  it  will  soon  come  to  be  performed  with  alac- 
rity and  cheerfulness.  Charles  IX.  of  Sweden  was  a 
firm  believer  in  the  power  of  will,  even  in  a  youth.  Lay- 
ing his  hand  on  the  head  of  his  youngest  son  when  en- 
gaged upon  a  difficult  task,  he  exclaimed,  "  He  shall  do 
it !  he  shall  do  it ! "  The  habit  of  strenuous  continued 
labor  becomes  comparatively  easy  in  time,  like  every 
other  habit.  Thus  even  persons  with  the  commonest 
brains  and  the  most  slender  powers  will  accomplish  much, 
if  they  apply  themselves  wholly  and  indefatigably  to  one 
thing  at  a  time.  Fowell  Buxton  placed  his  confidence  in 
ordinary  means  and  extraordinary  application ;  realizing 
the  scriptural  injunction,  "  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth 
to  do,  do  it  with  all  thy  might ; "  and  he  himself  attrib- 
uted his  own  remarkable  success  in  life  to  his  practice  of 
constantly  "  being  a  whole  man  to  one  thing  at  a  time," 


CHAP.  VII.  POWER  OF  WILL.  205 

Nothing  that  is  of  real  worth  can  be  achieved  without 
courageous  working.  Man  owes  his  growth  chiefly  to 
that  active  striving  of  the  will,  that  encounter  with  diffi- 
culty, which  we  call  effort ;  and  it  is  astonishing  to  find 
how  often  results  apparently  impracticable  are  thus  made 
possible.  An  intense  anticipation  itself  transforms  pos- 
sibility into  reality ;  our  desires  being  often  but  the  pre- 
cursors of  the  things  which  we  are  capable  of  performing. 
On  the  contrary,  the  timid  and  hesitating  find  everything 
impossible,  chiefly  because  it  seems  so.  It  is  related  of 
a  young  French  officer,  that  he  used  to  walk  about  his 
apartment  exclaiming,  "  I  will  be  Marshal  of  France  and 
a  great  general."  This  ardent  desire  was  the  presenti- 
ment of  his  success;  for  he  did  become  a  distinguished 
commander,  and  he  died  a  Marshal  of  France. 

Mr.  Walker,  author  of  the  "Original,"  had  so  great 
a  faith  in  the  power  of  will,  that  he  says  on  one  occasion 
he  determined  to  be  well,  and  he  was  so.  This  may 
answer  once ;  but,  though  safer  to  follow  than  many 
prescriptions,  it  will  not  always  succeed.  The  power 
of  mind  over  body  is  no  doubt  great,  but  it  may  be 
strained  until  the  physical  power  breaks  down  altogether. 
It  is  related  of  Muley  Moluc,  the  Moorish  leader,  that, 
when  lying  ill,  almost  worn  out  by  an  incurable  disease, 
a  battle  took  place  between  his  troops  and  the  Portu- 
guese ;  when,  starting  from  his  litter  at  the  great  crisis 
of  the  fight,  he  rallied  his  army,  led  them  to  victory, 
and  instantly  afterwards  sank  exhausted  and  expired. 

It  is  willy  —  force  of  purpose,  —  that  enables  a  man  to 
do  or  be  whatever  he  sets  his  mind  on  being  or  doing. 
A  holy  man  was  accustomed  to  say,  "Whatever  you 
wish,  that  you  are:  for  such  is  the  force  of  our  will, 
joined  to  the  Divine,  that  whatever  we  wish  to  be,  seri- 


206  FREEDOM  OF  THE  WILL.  CHAP.  VII. 

ously,  and  with  a  true  intention,  that  we  become.  No 
one  ardently  wishes  to  be  submissive,  patient,  modest,  or 
liberal,  who  does  not  become  what  he  wishes."  The 
story  is  told  of  a  working  carpenter,  who  was  observed 
one  day  planing  a  magistrate's  bench,  which  he  was  re- 
pairing, with  more  than  usual  carefulness,  and  when 
asked  the  reason,  he  replied,  "  Because  I  wish  to  make 
it  easy  against  the  time  when  I  come  to  sit  upon  it 
myself."  And  singularly  enough,  the  man  actually  lived 
to  sit  upon  that  very  bench  as  a  magistrate. 

Whatever  theoretical  conclusions  logicians  may  have 
formed  as  to  the  freedom  of  the  will,  each  individual 
feels  that  practically  he  is  free  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil,  —  that  he  is  not  like  a  mere  straw  thrown  upon 
the  water  to  mark  the  direction  of  the  current,  but  that 
he  has  within  him  the  power  of  a  strong  swimmer,  and 
is  capable  of  striking  out  for  himself,  of  buffeting  with 
the  waves,  and  directing  to  a  great  extent  his  own  in- 
dependent course.  There  is  no  absolute  constraint  upon 
our  volitions,  and  we  feel  and  know  that  we  are  not 
bound,  as  by  a  spell,  with  reference  to  our  actions.  It 
would  paralyze  all  desire  of  excellence  were  we  to  think 
otherwise.  The  entire  business  and  conduct  of  life,  with 
its  domestic  rules,  its  social  arrangements,  and  its  public 
institutions,  proceed  upon  the  practical  conviction  that  the 
will  is  free.  Without  this  where  would  be  responsibil- 
ity ?  —  and  what  the  advantage  of  teaching,  advising, 
preaching,  reproof,  and  correction  ?  What  were  the  use 
of  laws,  were  it  not  the  universal  belief,  as  it  is  the 
universal  fact,  that  men  obey  them  or  not,  very  much 
as  they  individually  determine  ?  In  every  moment  of 
our  life,  conscience  is  proclaiming  that  our  will  is  free. 
It  is  the  only  thing  that  is  wholly  ours,  and  it  rests 


CHAP.  VII.  LAMMENAIS.  —  BUXTON.  207 

solely  with  ourselves  individually,  whether  we  give  it  the 
right  or  the  wrong  direction.  Our  habits  or  our  tempta- 
tions are  not  our  masters,  but  we  of  them.  Even  in 
yielding,  conscience  tells  us  we  might  resist ;  and  that 
were  we  determined  to  master  them,  there  would  not  be 
required  for  that  purpose  a  stronger  resolution  than  we 
know  ourselves  to  be  capable  of  exercising. 

"You  are  now  at  the  age,"  said  Lammenais  once, 
addressing  a  gay  youth,  "at  which  a  decision  must  be 
formed  by  you ;  a  little  later,  and  you  may  have  to  groan 
within  the  tomb  which  yourself  have  dug,  without  the 
power  of  rolling  away  the  stone.  That  which  the  easiest 
becomes  a  habit  in  us  is  the  will.  Learn  then  to  will 
strongly,  and  decisively  ;  thus  fix  your  floating  life,  and 
leave  it  no  longer  to  be  carried  hither  and  thither,  like 
a  withered  leaf,  by  every  wind  that  blows." 

Buxton  held  the  conviction  that  a  young  man  might 
be  very  much  what  he  pleased,  provided  he  formed  a 
strong  resolution  and  held  to  it.  Writing  to  one  of  his 
own  sons,  he  once  said,  "  You  are  now  at  that  period  of 
life,  in  which  you  must  make  a  turn  to  the  right  or  the 
left.  You  must  now  give  proofs  of  principle,  determina- 
tion, and  strength  of  mind ;  or  you  must  sink  into  idle, 
ness,  and  acquire  the  habits  and  character  of  a  desultory, 
ineffective  young  man ;  and  if  once  you  fall  to  that  point, 
you  will  find  it  no  easy  matter  to  rise  again.  I  am  sure 
that  a  young  man  may  be  very  much  what  he  pleases. 
In  my  own  case  it  was  so.  ...  Much  of  my  hap- 
piness, and  all  my  prosperity  in  life,  have  resulted 
from  the  change  I  made  at  your  age.  If  you  seriously 
resolve  to  be  energetic  and  industrious,  depend  upon  it 
that  you  will  for  your  whole  life  have  reason  to  rejoice 
that  you  were  wise  enough  to  form  and  to  act  upon 


208  SUWAKROW  —  NAPOLEON.  CHAP.  VII. 

that  determination."  As  will,  considered  without  re- 
gard to  direction,  is  simply  constancy,  firmness,  per- 
severance, it  will  be  obvious  that  everything  depends 
upon  right  direction  and  motives.  Directed  towards 
the  enjoyment  of  the  senses,  the  strong  will  may  be  a 
demon,  and  the  intellect  merely  its  debased  slave;  but 
directed  towards  good,  the  strong  will  is  a  king,  and 
the  intellect  is  then  the  minister  of  man's  highest  well- 
being. 

"  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way,"  is  an  old 
and  true  saying.  He  who  resolves  upon  doing  a  thing, 
by  that  very  resolution  often  scales  the  barriers  to  it, 
and  secures  its  achievement.  To  think  we  are  able, 
is  almost  to  be  so,  —  to  determine  upon  attainment,  is 
frequently  attainment  itself.  Thus,  earnest  resolution 
has  often  seemed  to  have  about  it  almost  a  savor  of 
omnipotence.  The  strength  of  Suwarrow's  character 
lay  in  his  power  of  willing,  and,  like  most  resolute  per- 
sons, he  preached  it  up  as  a  system.  "  You  can  only 
half  will,"  he  would  say  to  people  who  failed.  Like 
Richelieu  and  Napoleon,  he  would  have  the  word  "  im- 
possible "  banished  from  the  dictionary.  "  I  don't  know," 
"  I  can't,"  and  "  impossible,"  were  words  which  he  de- 
tested above  all  others.  "  Learn  !  Do  !  Try  !  "  he 
would  exclaim.  His  biographer  has  said  of  him,  that 
he  furnished  a  remarkable  illustration  of  what  may  be 
effected  by  the  energetic  development  and  exercise  of 
faculties,  the  germs  of  which  at  least  are  in  every  human 
heart. 

One  of  Napoleon's  favorite  maxims  was,  "  The  truest 
wisdom  is  a  resolute  determination."  His  life,  beyond 
most  others,  vividly  showed  what  a  powerful  and  un- 
scrupulous will  could  accomplish.  He  threw  his  whole 


CHAP.  VII.       NAPOLEON  AND  WELLINGTON.  209 

force  of  body  and  mind  direct  upon  his  work.  Imbecile 
rulers  and  the  nations  they  governed  went  down  before 
him  in  succession.  He  was  told  that  the  Alps  stood  in 
the  way  of  his  armies,  —  "  There  shall  be  no  Alps,"  he 
said,  and  the  road  across  the  Simplon  was  constructed, 
through  a  district  formerly  almost  inaccessible.  "  Impos- 
sible," said  he,  "  is  a  word  only  to  be  found  in  the  diction- 
ary of  fools."  He  was  a  man  who  toiled  terribly ;  some- 
times employing  and  exhausting  four  secretaries  at  a 
time.  He  spared  no  one,  not  even  himself.  His  influ- 
ence inspired  other  men,  and  put  a  new  life  into  them. 
"  I  made  my  generals  out  of  mud,"  he  said.  But  all 
was  of  no  avail ;  for  Napoleon's  intense  selfishness  was 
his  ruin,  and  the  ruin  of  France,  which  he  left  a  prey 
to  anarchy.  His  life  taught  the  lesson  that  power,  how- 
ever energetically  wielded,  without  beneficence,  is  fatal 
to  its  possessor  and  its  subjects;  and  that  knowledge, 
or  knowingness,  without  goodness,  is  but  the  incarnate 
principle  of  evil. 

Our  own  Wellington  was  a  far  greater  man.  Not  less 
resolute,  firm,  and  persistent,  but  much  more  self-denying, 
conscientious,  and  truly  patriotic.  Napoleon's  aim  was 
"  Glory ; "  Wellington's  watchword,  like  Nelson's,  was 
"  Duty."  The  former  word,  it  is  said,  does  not  once  oc- 
cur in  his  despatches  ;  the  latter  often,  but  never  accom- 
panied by  any  high-sounding  professions.  The  greatest 
difficulties  could  neither  embarrass  nor  intimidate  Wel- 
lington ;  his  energy  invariably  rising  in  proportion  to  the 
obstacles  to  be  surmounted.  The  patience,  the  firmness, 
the  resolution,  with  which  he  bore  through  the  maddening 
rexations  and  gigantic  difficulties  of  the  Peninsular  cam- 
paigns, is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  sublimest  things  to  be 
found  in  history.  In  Spain,  Wellington  not  only  ex- 


210  PROMPTITUDE  AND  DECISION.        CHAP.  VII, 

hibited  the  genius  of  the  general,  but  the  comprehensive 
wisdom  of  the  statesman.  Though  his  natural  temper 
was  irritable  in  the  extreme,  his  high  sense  of  duty 
enabled  him  to  restrain  it,  and  to  those  about  him  his 
patience  seemed  absolutely  inexhaustible.  His  great 
character  stands  untarnished  by  ambition,  by  avarice,  or 
any  low  passion.  Though  a  man  of  powerful  individual- 
ity, he  yet  displayed  a  great  variety  of  endowment.  The 
equal  of  Napoleon  in  generalship,  he  was  as  prompt, 
vigorous,  and  daring  as  Clive ;  as  -wise  a  statesman  as 
Cromwell ;  and  as  pure  and  high-minded  as  Washington. 
The  great  Wellington  left  behind  him  an  enduring  repu- 
tation, founded  on  toilsome  campaigns  won  by  skilful 
combination,  by  fortitude  which  nothing  could  exhaust, 
by  sublime  daring,  and  perhaps  still  sublimer  patience. 
Energy  usually  displays  itself  in  promptitude  and 
decision.  When  Ledyard,  the  traveller,  was  asked  by 
the  African  Association  when  he  would  be  ready  to  set 
out  for  Africa,  he  promptly  answered,  "  To-morrow  morn- 
ing." Blucher's  promptitude  obtained  for  him  the  cog- 
nomen of  "  Marshal  Forwards  "  throughout  the  Prussian 
army.  When  John  Jervis,  afterwards  Earl  St.  Vincent, 
was  asked  when  he  would  be  ready  to  join  his  ship,  he 
replied,  "  Directly."  And  when  Sir  Colin  Campbell, 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Indian  army,  was  asked 
when  he  could  set  out,  his  answer  was,  "  To-morrow,"  — 
an  earnest  of  his  subsequent  success.  For  it  is  rapid  de- 
cision, and  a  similar  promptitude  in  action,  such  as  taking 
instant  advantage  of  an  enemy's  mistakes,  that  so  often 
wins  battles.  "  Every  moment  lost,"  said  Napoleon, 
"  gives  an  opportunity  for  misfortune ; "  and  he  used  to 
gay  that  he  beat  the  Austrians  because  they  never  knew 
the  value  of  time ;  while  they  dawdled,  he  overthrew 
them. 


CHAP.  VII.          BRITISH  ENERGY  IN  INDIA.  211 

India  has,  during  the  last  century,  been  a  great  field 
for  the  display  of  British  energy.  From  Clive  to  Have- 
lock  and  Clyde  there  is  a  long  and  honorable  roll  of  dis- 
tinguished names  in  Indian  legislation  and  warfare,  — 
such  as  Wcllesley,  Munro,  Elphinstone,  Bentinck,  Met- 
calfe,  Outram,  Edwardes,  and  the  Lawrences.  Another 
great,  but  sullied  name,  is  that  of  Warren  Hastings,  —  a 
man  of  dauntless  will  and  indefatigable  industry.  His 
family  was  ancient  and  illustrious ;  but  their  vicissitudes 
of  fortune  and  ill-requited  loyalty  in  the  cause  of  the 
Stuarts,  brought  them  to  ruin,  and  the  family  estate  at 
Daylesford,  of  which  they  had  been  lords  of  the  manor 
for  hundreds  of  years,  at  length  passed  from  their  hands. 
The  last  Hastings  of  Daylesford  had,  however,  previously 
presented  the  parish  living  to  his  second  son ;  and  it  was 
in  his  house,  many  years  later,  that  Warren  Hastings, 
his  grandson,  was  born.  The  boy  learned  his  letters  at 
the  village-school  of  Daylesford,  on  the  same  bench  with 
the  children  of  the  peasantry.  He  played  in  the  fields 
which  his  fathers  had  owned ;  and  what  the  loyal  and 
brave  Hastings  of  Daylesford  had  been,  was  ever  in  the 
boy's  thoughts.  His  young  ambition  was  fired,  and  it  is 
said  that,  one  summer's  day,  when  only  seven  years  old, 
as  he  laid  him  down  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  which 
flows  through  the  old  domain,  he  formed  in  his  mind  the 
resolution  that  he  would  yet  recover  possession  of  the 
family  lands.  It  was  the  romantic  vision  of  a  mere  boy ; 
yet  he  lived  to  realize  it.  The  dream  became  a  passion, 
rooted  in  his  very  life  ;  and  he  pursued  his  determination 
through  youth  up  to  manhood,  with  that  calm  but  in- 
domitable force  of  will  which  was  the  most  striking  pe- 
culiarity of  his  character.  The  poor  orphan  boy  became 
5>ne  of  the  most  powerful  men  of  his  time ;  he  retrieved 


212  NAPIER'S  HEROIC  SPIRIT.  CHAP.  VIL 

the  fortunes  of  his  line ;  bought  back  the  old  estate,  and 
rebuilt  the  family  mansion.  "  When,  under  a  tropical 
sun,"  says  Macaulay,  "  he  ruled  fifty  millions  of  Asiatics, 
his  hopes,  amidst  all  the  cares  of  war,  finance,  and  legis- 
lation, still  pointed  to  Daylesford.  And  when  his  long 
public  life,  so  singularly  checkered  with  good  and  evil, 
with  glory  and  obloquy,  had  at  length  closed  forever,  it 
was  to  Daylesford  that  he  retired  to  die." 

Sir  Charles  Napier  was  another  Indian  leader  of  ex- 
traordinary courage  and  determination.  As  he  once  said 
when  surrounded  with  difficulties  in  one  of  his  cam- 
paigns, "  They  only  make  my  feet  go  deeper  into  the 
ground."  His  battle  of  Meeanee  was  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  feats  in  history.  With  2,000  men,  of  whom 
only  400  were  Europeans,  he  encountered  an  army  of 
35,000  hardy  and  well-armed  Beloochees.  It  was  an  act, 
apparently,  of  the  most  daring  temerity,  but  the  general 
had  faith  in  himself  and  in  his  men.  He  charged  the 
Belooch  centre  up  a  high  bank  which  formed  their  ram- 
part 'in  front,  and  for  three  mortal  hours  the  battle  raged. 
Each  man  of  that  small  force,  inspired  by  the  chief, 
became  for  the  time  a  hero.  The  Beloochees,  though 
twenty  to  one,  were  driven  back,  but  with  their  faces  to 
the  foe.  It  is  this  sort  of  pluck,  tenacity,  and  determined 
perseverance  which  wins  soldiers'  battles,  and,  indeed, 
every  battle.  It  is  the  one  neck  nearer  that  wins  the  race 
and  shows  the  blood ;  it  is  the  one  march  more  that  wins 
the  campaign  ;  the  five  minutes'  more  persistent  courage 
that  wins  the  fight.  Though  your  force  be  less  than 
another's,  you  equal  and  out-master  your  opponent  if 
you  continue  it  longer  and  concentrate  it  more.  The 
reply  of  the  Spartan  father,  who  said  to  his  son,  when 
complaining  that  his  sword  was  too  short,  "  Add  a  step  to 
it,"  is  applicable  to  everything  in  life. 


CHAP.  VII.  THE  INDIAN  SWORDSMAN.  213 

Napier  took  the  right  method  of  inspiring  his  men 
with  his  own  heroic  spirit.  He  worked  as  hard  as  any 
private  in  the  ranks.  "  The  great  art  of  commanding," 
he  said,  "  is  to  take  a  fair  share  of  the  work.  The  man 
who  leads  an  army  cannot  succeed  unless  his  whole  mind 
is  thrown  into  his  work.  The  more  trouble,  the  more 
labor  must  be  given  ;  the  more  danger,  the  more  pluck 
must  be  shown,  till  all  is  overpowered."  A  young  officer, 
who  accompanied  him  in  his  campaign  in  the  Cutchee 
Hills,  once  said,  "  When  I  see  that  old  man  incessantly 
on  his  horse,  how  can  I  be  idle  who  am  young  and 
strong  ?  I  would  go  into  a  loaded  cannon's  mouth  if  he 
ordered  me."  This  remark,  when  repeated  to  Napier, 
he  said  was  ample  reward  for  his  toils.  The  anecdote  of 
his  interview  with  the  Indian  juggler  strikingly  illustrates 
his  cool  courage  as  well  as  his  remarkable  simplicity  and 
honesty  of  character.  After  the  Indian  battles,  on  one 
occasion  a  famous  juggler  visited  the  camp,  and  per- 
formed his  feats  before  the  general,  his  family,  and  staff. 
Among  other  performances,  this  man  cut  in  two  with  a 
stroke  of  his  sword  a  lime  or  lemon  placed  in  the  hand 
of  his  assistant.  Napier  thought  there  wras  some  collusion 
between  the  juggler  and  his  retainer.  To  divide  by  a 
sweep  of  the  sword  on  a  man's  hand  so  small  an  object, 
without  touching  the  flesh,  he  believed  to  be  impossible, 
though  a  similar  incident  is  related  by  Scott  in  his 
romance  of  "  The  Talisman."  To  determine  the  point,  the 
general  offered  his  own  hand  for  the  experiment,  and  he 
stretched  out  his  right  arm.  The  juggler  looked  atten- 
tively at  the  hand,  and  said  he  would  not  make  the  trial. 
f'  I  thought  I  would  find  you  out ! "  exclaimed  Napier. 
"  But  stop,"  added  the  other,  "  let  me  see  your  left  hand." 
The  left  hand  was  submitted,  and  the  man  then  said 


214  THE  RECENT  REBELLION  IN  INDLA.    CHAP.  VII. 

firmly,  "  If  you  will  hold  your  arm  steady,  I  will  perform 
the  feat."  "  But  why  the  left  hand  and  not  the  right  ?  " 
'•'  Because  the  right  hand  is  hollow  in  the  centre,  and 
there  is  a  risk  of  cutting  off  the  thumb  ;  the  left  is  high, 
and  the  danger  will  be  less."  Napier  was  startled.  "  I 
got  frightened,"  he  said ;  "  I  saw  it  was  an  actual  feat  of 
delicate  swordsmanship,  and  if  I  had  not  abused  the  man 
as  I  did  before  my  staff,  and  challenged  him  to  the  trial, 
I  honestly  acknowledge  I  would  have  retired  from  the 
encounter.  However,  I  put  the  lime  on  my  hand,  and 
held  out  my  arm  steadily.  The  juggler  balanced  himself, 
and,  with  a  swift  stroke,  cut  the  lime  in  two  pieces.  I 
felt  the  edge  of  the  sword  on  my  hand  as  if  a  cold  thread 
had  been  drawn  across  it ;  and  so  much  (he  added)  for 
the  brave  swordsmen  of  India,  whom  our  fine  fellows  de- 
feated at  Meeanee." 

The  recent  terrible  struggle  in  India  has  served  to 
bring  out,  perhaps  more  prominently  than  any  previous 
event  in  our  history,  the  determined  energy  and  self- 
reliance  of  the  national  character.  Although  English 
officialism  may  often  drift  stupidly  into  gigantic  blunders, 
the  men  of  the  nation  generally  contrive  to  work  their 
way  out  of  them  with  a  heroism  almost  approach- 
ing the  sublime.  In  May,  1857,  when  the  revolt  burst 
upon  India  like  a  thunderclap,  the  British  forces  had 
been  allowed  to  dwindle  to  their  extreme  minimum,  and 
were  scattered  over  a  wide  extent  of  country,  many  of 
them  in  remote  cantonments.  The  Bengal  regiments, 
one  after  another,  rose  against  their  officers,  broke  away, 
and  rushed  to  Delhi.  Province  after  province  was  lapped 
in  mutiny  and  rebellion  ;  and  the  cry  for  help  rose  from 
east  to  west.  Everywhere  the  English  stood  at  bay  in 
email  detachments,  beleaguered  and  surrounded,  appar- 


CHAP.  VII.    THE  RECENT  REBELLION  IN  INDIA.  215 

eritly  incapable  of  resistance.  Their  discomfiture  seemed 
so  complete,  and  the  utter  ruin  of  the  British  cause  in 
India  so  certain,  that  it  might  be  said  of  them  then,  as  it 
had  been  said  before,  "  These  English  never  know  when 
they  are  beaten."  According  to  rule,  they  ought  then 
and  there  to  have  succumbed  to  inevitable  fate. 

While  the  issue  of  the  mutiny  still  appeared  uncertain, 
Holkar,  one  of  the  native  princes,  consulted  his  astrologer 
for  information.  The  reply  was,  "  If  all  the  Europeans 
save  one  are  slain,  that  one  will  remain  to  fight  and  re- 
conquer." In  their  very  darkest  moment,  —  even  where, 
as  at  Lucknow,  a  mere  handful  of  British  soldiers,  civil- 
ians, and  women,  held  out  amidst  a  city  and  province  in 
arms  against  them,  —  there  was  no  word  of  despair,  no 
thought  of  surrender.  Though  cut  off  from  all  communi- 
cation with  their  friends  for  months,  and  they  knew  not 
whether  India  was  lost  or  held,  they  never  ceased  to  have 
perfect  faith  in  the  courage  and  devotedness  of  their 
countrymen,  though  they  might  be  afar  off;  they  knew 
that  while  a  body  of  men  of  English  race  held  together 
in  India,  they  would  not  be  left  unheeded  to  perish. 
They  never  dreamed  of  any  other  issue  but  retrieval  of 
their  misfortune  and  ultimate  triumph  ;  and  if  the  worst 
came  to  the  worst,  they  could  but  fall  at  their  post  and 
die  in  the  performance  of  their  duty.  Need  we  remind 
the  reader  of  the  names  of  Havelock,  Neill,  and  Outram, 
men  of  each  of  whom  it  might  with  equal  appropriateness 
be  said  that  he  had  the  heart  of  a  chevalier,  the  soul  of  a 
believer,  and  the  temperament  of  a  martyr.  Of  each  it 
might  be  said  that  their  lives  had  been  spent  in  the 
patient  performance  of  obscure  services;  but  the  out- 
break of  the  rebellion  provided  them  with  the  opportunity 
of  proving  that  each  had  in  him  the  qualities  of  a  hero. 


216  THE  RECENT  REBELLION  IN  INDIA.    CHAP.  VII. 

Indeed  the  same  might  be  saicT  of  every  private  soldier 
who  distinguished  himself  in  that  great  struggle.  Des- 
perate though  the  work  was  of  retrieving  this  terrible 
and  wide-spread  calamity,  there  were  men  found  to  do  it, 
—  men  whose  lives  until  then  had  for  the  most  part  been 
spent  in  the  performance  of  mere  routine  duties,  whose 
names  had  never  before  been  heard  of,  and  who  might 
have  died  unknown  but  for  the  occasion  which  put  their 
highest  qualities  to  the  proof,  as  well-bred,  brave-hearted, 
high-souled  Englishmen.  In  the  course  of  the  struggle 
which  ensued,  an  amount  of  individual  energy  was  dis- 
played of  an  extraordinary  and  perhaps  even  an  unex- 
pected character;  and  men  and  women,  soldiers  and 
civilians,  of  all  ranks,  in  the  revolted  districts,  swelled 
for  the  time  to  the  dimensions  of  heroes. 

It  has  been  said  that  Delhi  was  taken,  and  India  saved, 
by  the  personal  character  of  Sir  John  Lawrence.  The 
very  name  of  "  Lawrence "  represented  power  in  the 
Northwest  Provinces.  His  standard  of  duty,  zeal,  and 
personal  effort,  was  of  the  highest ;  and  every  man  who 
served  under  him  seemed  to  be  inspired  by  his  own 
spirit.  It  was  declared  of  him  that  his  character  alone 
was  worth  an  army.  The  same  might  be  said  of  his 
brother  Sir  Henry,  who  organized  the  Punjaub  force  that 
took  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  capture  of  Delhi.  Both 
brothers  inspired  those  who  were  about  them  with  per- 
fect love  and  confidence.  Both  lived  amongst  the  people, 
and  powerfully  influenced  them  for  good.  Above  all,  as 
Colonel  Edwardes  says,  "  they  drew  models  on  young  fel- 
lows' minds,  which  they  went  forth  and  copied  in  their 
several  administrations  :  they  sketched  a  faith,  and  begot 
a  school,  which  are  both  living  things  at  this  day."  Sir 
John  Lawrence  had  by  his  side  such  men  as  Montgomery, 


CHAP.  VII.  THE  SIEGE  OF  DELHI.  217 

Nicholson,  Cotton,  and  Edwardes,  as  prompt,  decisive,  and 
high-souled  as  himself.  John  Nicholson  was  one  of  the 
finest,  manliest,  and  noblest  of  men,  — "  every  inch  a 
hakem,"  the  natives  said  of  him,  —  "a  tower  of  strength," 
as  he  was  characterized  by  Lord  Dalhousie.  In  whatever 
capacity  he  acted  he  was  great,  because  he  acted  with  his 
whole  strength  and  soul.  A  brotherhood  of  fakirs  — 
borne  away  by  their  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  man, 
—  oven  commenced  the  worship  of  Nikkil  Seyn ;  he  had 
some  of  them  punished  for  their  folly,  but  they  continued 
the  worship  nevertheless.  Of  his  sustained  energy  and 
persistency  an  illustration  may  be  cited  in  his  pursuit  of 
the  55th  Sepoy  mutineers,  when  he  was  in  the  saddle 
for  twenty  consecutive  hours,  and  travelled  more  than 
seventy  miles.  When  the  enemy  set  up  their  standard 
at  Delhi,  Lawrence  and  Montgomery,  relying  on  the  sup- 
port of  the  people  of  the  Punjaub,  and  compelling  their 
admiration  and  confidence,  strained  every  nerve  to  keep 
their  own  province  in  perfect  order,  whilst  they  hurled 
every  available  soldier,  European  and  Sikh,  against  that 
city.  Sir  John  Vrote  to  the  Commander-in-chief  to 
"  hang  on  to  the  rebels'  noses  before  Delhi,"  whilst  the 
troops  pressed  on  by  forced  marches  under  Nicholson, 
"the  tramp  of  whose  war-horse  might  be  heard  miles 
off,"  as  was  afterwards  said  of  him  by  a  rough  Sikh  who 
wept  over  his  grave. 

The  siege  and  storming  of  Delhi  was  the  most  illustri- 
ous event  which  occurred  in  the  course  of  that  gigantic 
struggle.  The  leaguer  of  Lucknow,  during  which  the 
merest  skeleton  of  a  British  regiment,  —  the  32d,  — 
held  out  for  six  months  against  two  hundred  thousand 
armed  enemies,  has  perhaps  excited  more  intense  inter- 
est ;  but  Delhi  was  the  feat  of  arms  of  which  Britain  has 
10 


218  THE  SIEGE  OF  DELHI.  CHAP.  VIL 

A-iost  cause  to  be  proud.     There,   too,  the  British  were 
i  eally  the  besieged,  though  ostensibly  the  besiegers  ;  they 
were  a  mere  handful  of  men  "  in  the  open,"  —  not  more 
than  3,700  bayonets,  European   and   native, —  without 
any  defences  or  support,   other   than  their  indomitable 
courage  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  assailed  from  day  to  day 
by  an  army  of  rebels  numbering  at  one  time  as  many  as 
75,000  men,  trained  to  European  discipline  by  English 
officers,  and  supplied  with  all  but  exhaustless  munitions 
of  war.     The  heroic  little  band  sat  down  before  the  city 
under  the  burning  rays  of  a  tropical  sun.    Death,  wounds, 
And  fever,  failed  to  turn  them  from  their  purpose.    Thirty 
times  they  were  attacked  by  overwhelming  numbers,  and 
thirty  times  did  they  drive  back  the  enemy  behind  their 
defences.      As   Captain    Hodson,  —  himself  one   of  the 
bravest  there,  —  has   said,  "  I  venture  to   aver  that  no 
Dther  nation  in  the  world  would  have  remained  here,  or 
avoided  defeat  if  they  had  attempted  to  do  so."     Never 
for  an  instant  did  these  heroes  falter  at  their  work ;  with 
sublime  endurance  they  held  on,  fought  on,  and  never  re- 
laxed until,  dashing  through  the  "  imminent  deadly  breach," 
the  place  was  won,  and  the  British  flag  was  again  un- 
furled on  the  walls  of  Delhi.    All  were  great,  —  privates, 
officers,  and  generals  ;    men  taken  from  behind  English 
ploughs  and  from  English  workshops,  and  those  trained 
in  the  best  schools  and  colleges,  displayed  equal  heroism 
when  the  emergency  arose.     Common  soldiers  who  hai 
been  inured  to  a  life  of  hardship,  and  young  officers  who 
had  been  nursed  in  luxurious  homes,  alike  proved  theii 
manhood,   and    emerged   from    that   terrible   trial    with 
equal  honor ;  the  native  strength  and  soundness  of  the 
English  race,  and  of  manly  English  training  and  discipline, 
were  never  more  powerfully  illustrated ;  and  it  was  there 


CHAP.  VII.  MISSIONARY  LABORERS.  219 

emphatically  proved  that  the  men  of  England  an?,  after 
all,  its  greatest  products.  A  terrible  price  was  paid  for 
this  great  chapter  in  our  history,  but  if  those  who  survive, 
and  those  who  come  after,  profit  by  the  lesson  and  exam- 
ple, it  may  not  have  been  purchased  at  too  great  a  cost. 

But  not  less  energy  and  courage  have  been  displayed 
by  Englishmen  in  various  other  lines  of  action,  of  a 
more  peaceful  and  beneficent  character  than  that  of  war. 
Henry  Martyn,  William  Carey,  John  Williams,  David 
Livingstone,  and  many  other  equally  distinguished  labor- 
ers in  missionary  enterprise,  have  quite  as  nobly  illus- 
trated the  power  of  energetic  action  in  their  lonely  labors 
amidst  heathen  populations  in  India,  Africa,  and  the  isl- 
ands of  the  Pacific. 

These  great  missionaries  all  sprang  from  a  humble 
position  in  life.  Henry  Martyn's  father  was  originally  a 
laborer  in  a  mine  at  Gwennap  in  Cornwall,  though  by 
industry  and  ability  he  subsequently  raised  himself  to  the 
position  of  a  clerk.  The  boy  was  sent  to  school  at  Truro, 
and  afterwards  to  Oxford,  where  he  failed  in  obtaining 
the  fellowship  for  which  he  tried.  At  St.  John's,  Cam- 
bridge, he  was  more  successful ;  he  applied  himself  reso- 
lutely, and  came  out  senior  wrangler  in  1801.  He  felt 
that  he  had  within  him  the  power  to  achieve  distinction 
in  any  line  of  study  he  might  choose  to  embrace ;  but 
having  been  powerfully  impressed  by  the  preaching  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Simeon,  and  being  brought  in  connection 
with  some  of  the  leading  members  of  the  "  Clapham 
Sect,"  he  determined  to  embrace  the  career  of  a  mis- 
sionary, and  to  carry  the  tidings  of  the  Gospel  into  the 
far  east.  In  1805  he  sailed  for  India  under  the  counte- 
nance of  the  Missionary  Society,  and  may  be  regarded  as 
the  pioneer  of  missionary  labors  in  that  wide  field.  For 


220  MARTYN.  —  WILLIAMS.  CHAP.  VII. 

five  years  lie  labored  long  and  hard  in  Hindostan,  trans- 
lating the  Bible  into  the  Persian,  Hindostanee,  and 
Arabic,  receiving  but  slender  encouragement,  and  often 
encountering  much  opposition.  He  then  proceeded  into 
Persia,  where  he  was  stricken  by  fever,  and,  his  health 
completely  broken,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his 
work-  and  return  home.  But  he  was  overtaken  by  death 
before  he  passed  the  frontier  of  Asia  Minor,  expiring  at 
Fokat,  in  1812,  when  only  in  his  thirty-second  year. 

Not  less  energy  and  self-devotion  in  the  same  career 
were  displayed  by  John  Williams,  the  martyr  of  Erro- 
manga.  Though  considered  a  dull  boy,  he  was  yet  handy 
at  his  trade,  and  possessed  of  good  physical  stamina.  He 
was  apprenticed  to  a  furnishing  ironmonger  in  the  City 
Road,  and  for  some  time  was  rather  disposed  to  join  in  the 
dissipation  of  his  companions  than  to  occupy  himself  with 
serious  thoughts.  He  cultivated,  however,  his  manual  skill, 
and  was  often,  in  his  leisure  hours,  found  at  work  in  the 
blacksmith's  forge  of  his  master,  who  at  length  was  accus- 
tomed to  employ  him  upon  any  job  requiring  peculiar  deli- 
cacy or  skill.  He  also  was  fond  of  bell-hanging  and  other 
employments  which  took  him  away  from  the  shop.  A 
casual  sermon  which  he  heard  gave  his  mind  a  serious 
bias,  and  he  became  a  Sunday-school  teacher.  The  cause 
of  missions  having  been  brought  under  his  notice  at  some 
of  his  society's  meetings,  he  determined  to  devote  himself 
to  this  work.  His  services  were  accepted  by  the  London 
Missionary  Society ;  and  his  master  allowed  him  to  leave 
the  ironmongery  shop  before  the  expiry  of  his  indentures. 
The  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  were  the  scene  of  his 
labors  —  more  particularly  Huahine  in  Tahiti,  Raiatea, 
and  Rarotonga.  Like  the  Apostles  he  worked  with  his 
hands,  —  at  blacksmith  work,  gardening,  ship-building ; 


CHAP.  VII.  LIVINGSTONE.  221 

and  he  endeavored  to  teach  the  islanders  the  arts  of  civil- 
ized life,  at  the  same  time  that  he  instructed  them  in  the 
truths  of  religion.  It  was  in  the  course  of  his  indefati- 
gable labors  that  he  was  massacred  by  savages  on  the 
shore  of  Erromanga,—  none  worthier  than  he  to  wear  the 
martyr's  crown. 

The  career  of  Dr.  Livingstone  is  the  most  interesting 
of  all.  He  has  told  the  story  of  his  own  life  in  that  mod- 
est and  unassuming  manner  which  is  so  characteristic  of 
the  man  himself.  His  ancestors  were  poor  but  honest 
Highlanders,  and  it  is  related  of  one  of  them,  renowned 
in  his  district  for  wisdom  and  prudence,  that  when  on  his 
death -bed  he  called  his  children  round  him  and  left  them 
these  words,  the  only  legacy  he  had  to  bequeathe  —  "In 
my  lifetime,"  said  he,  "  I  have  searched  most  carefully 
through  all  the  traditions  I  could  find  of  our  family,  and 
I  never  could  discover  that  there  was  a  dishonest  man 
among  our  forefathers :  if,  therefore,  any  of  you  or  any 
of  your  children  should  take  to  dishonest  ways,  it  will  not 
be  because  it  runs  in  our  blood ;  it  does  not  belong  to 
you :  I  leave  this  precept  with  you  —  Be  honest."  At 
the  age  of  ten  Livingstone  was  sent  to  work  in  a  cotton 
factory  near  Glasgow  as  a  "  piecer."  With  part  of  his 
first  week's  wages  he  bought  a  Latin  grammar,  and  began 
to  learn  that  language,  pursuing  the  study  for  years  at  a 
night  school.  He  would  sit  up  conning  his  lessons  till 
twelve  or  later,  when  not  sent  to  bed  by  his  mother,  for 
he  had  to  be  up  and  at  work  in  the  factory  every  morn- 
ing by  six.  In  this  way  he  plodded  through  Virgil  and 
Horace,  also  reading  extensively  all  books,  excepting 
novels,  that  came  in  his  way,  but  more  especially  scien- 
tific works  and  books  of  travels.  In  his  pursuit  of  botany 
he  occupied  his  spare  hours,  which  were  but  few,  in  scour- 


222  LIVINGSTONE.  CHAP.  VII. 

ing  the  neighborhood  collecting  plants.  He  even  carried 
on  his  reading  amidst  the  roar  of  the  machinery  in  the 
mill,  so  placing  the  book  upon  the  spinning  jenny  which 
he  worked  that  he  could  catch  sentence  after  sentence  as 
he  passed.  In  this  way  the  persevering  factory  boy  ac- 
quired much  useful  knowledge  ;  and  as  he  grew  older,  the 
desire  possessed  him  of  becoming  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen.  With  this  object  he  set  himself  to  obtain  a 
medical  education,  in  order  the  better  to  be  qualified  for 
the  enterprise.  He  accordingly  economized  his  earnings, 
and  saved  as  much  money  as  enabled  him  to  support 
himself  while  attending  the  Medical  and  Greek  classes, 
as  well  as  the  Divinity  Lectures,  at  Glasgow,  for  several 
winters,  working  as  a  cotton  spinner  during  the  remainder 
of  each  year.  He  thus  supported  himself,  during  his 
college  career,  entirely  by  his  own  earnings  as  a  factory 
workman,  never  having  received  a  farthing  of  help  from 
any  other  source.  "  Looking  back  now,"  he  honestly 
says,  "  at  that  life  of  toil,  I  cannot  but  feel  thankful  that 
it  formed  such  a  material  part  of  my  early  education ; 
and,  were  it  possible,  I  should  like  to  begin  life  over  again 
in  the  same  lowly  style,  and  to  pass  through  the  same 
hardy  training."  At  length  he  finished  his  medical  cur- 
riculum, wrote  his  Latin  thesis,  passed  his  examinations, 
and  was  admitted  a  licentiate  of  the  Faculty  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons.  At  first  he  thought  of  going  to 
China,  but  the  war  then  raging  with  that  country  pre- 
vented his  following  out  that  idea ;  and  having  offered 
his  services  to  the  London  Missionary  Society,  he  was  by 
them  sent  out  to  Africa,  which  he  reached  in  1840.  He 
had  intended  to  proceed  to  China  by  his  own  efforts ;  and 
he  says  the  only  pang  he  had  in  going  to  Africa  at  the 
charge  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  was,  because 


CHAP.  VH.  LIVINGSTONE.  223 

"  it  was  not  quite  agreeable  to  one  accustomed  to  work 
his  own  way  to  become,  in  a  manner,  dependent  upon 
others."  Arrived  in  Africa  he  set  to  work  with  great 
vigor.  He  could  not  brook  the  idea  of  merely  entering 
upon  the  labors  of  others,  but  cut  out  a  large  sphere  of 
independent  work,  preparing  himself  for  it  by  undertak 
ing  manual  labor  in  building  and  other  handicraft  em 
ployment,  in  addition  to  teaching,  which,  he  says,  "  made 
me  generally  as  much  exhausted  and  unfit  for  study  ifc 
the  evenings  as  ever  I  had  been  when  a  cotton-spinner. 
Whilst  laboring  amongst  the  Bechuanas,  he  dug  canal^ 
built  houses,  cultivated  fields,  reared  cattle,  and  taught 
the  natives  while  he  worked  with  them.  At  first,  when 
starting  with  a  party  of  them  on  foot  upon  a  long  jour- 
ney, he  overheard  their  observations  upon  his  appearance 
and  powers  —  "  He  is  not  strong,"  said  they ;  "  he  is  quite 
slim,  and  only  appears  stout  because  he  puts  himself  into 
those  bags  (trousers) ;  he  will  soon  knock  up."  This 
caused  the  missionary's  Highland  blood  to  rise,  and  made 
him  despise  the  fatigue  of  keeping  them  all  at  the  top  of 
their  speed  for  days  together,  until  he  heard  them  express- 
ing proper  opinions  of  his  pedestrian  powers.  What  he 
did  in  Africa,  and  how  he  worked,  may  be  learnt  from 
his  own  "  Missionary  Travels,"  one  of  the  most  fasci- 
nating books  of  its  kind  that  has  ever  been  given  to  the 
public.  One  of  his  last  known  acts  is  thoroughly  charac- 
teristic of  the  man.  The  "  Birkenhead  "  steam  launch, 
which  he  took  out  with  him  to  Africa,  having  proved 
a  failure,  he  sent  home  orders  for  the  construction  of 
another  at  an  estimated  cost  of  2,0001.  This  sum  he 
proposed  to  defray  out  of  the  means  which  he  had  set 
aside  for  his  children  arising  from  the  profits  of  his  trav- 
els. "The  children  must  make  it  up  themselves,"  was 


224  JOHN  HOWARD.— JONAS  HANWAY:    CHAP.  VIL 

in  effect  his  expression  in  sending  home  the  order  for 
the  appropriation  of  the  money. 

The  life  of  John  Howard  was  throughout  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  power  of  patient  purpose  and  action. 
His  sublime  life  proved  that  even  physical  weakness 
could  remove  mountains  in  the  pursuit  of  an  end  rec- 
ommended by  duty.  The  idea  of  ameliorating  the 
condition  of  prisoners  engrossed  his  whole  thoughts 
and  possessed  him  like  a  passion ;  and  no  toil,  nor  dan- 
ger, nor  bodily  suffering  could  turn  him  from  that  great 
purpose  of  his  life.  Though  a  man  of  no  genius  and 
but  moderate  talent,  his  heart  was  pure  and  his  will  was 
strong;  even  in  his  own  time  he  achieved  a  remark- 
able degree  of  success  ;  but  his  influence  did  not  die  with 
him,  for  it  has  continued  powerfully  to  affect  not  only  the 
legislation  of  England,  but  of  all  civilized  nations,  even 
to  the  present  hour.  The  life  of  Howard  is,  however,  so 
well  known  through  the  labors  of  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon, 
that  we  prefer  citing  a  few  less  known  illustrations  of  this 
characteristic  feature  in  the  English  character. 

Jonas  Hanway  was  a  man  eminent  in  his  own  day  for 
his  integrity  as  a  merchant,  and  his  public  spirit  as  a 
patriot  and  philanthropist ;  though  his  name  is  now  all 
but  unknown.  He  was  one  of  the  many  patient  and  per- 
severing men  who  have  made  England  what  it  is,  — 
content  simply  to  do  with  energy  the  work  they  have 
been  appointed  to  do,  and  to  go  to  their  rest  thankfully 
when  it  is  done, — 

u  Leaving  no  memorial  but  a  world 
Made  better  by  their  lives." 

He  was  born  in  1712,  at  Portsmouth,  where,  his  father,  a 
etorekeepei  in  the  dockyard,  being  killed  by  an  accident, 


CHAP.  VII.  HIS  PERILOUS  JOURNEYS.  225 

he  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age.  His  mothei 
removed  with  her  family  to  London,  where  she  had  them 
put  to  school,  and  struggled  hard  to  bring  them  up  re- 
spectably. At  seventeen  Jonas  was  sent  to  Lisbon  to  be 
apprenticed  to  a  merchant,  where  his  close  attention  to 
business,  his  punctuality,  and  his  strict  honor  and  integ- 
rity, gained  for  him  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him.  He  returned  to  London,  and  in  1743,  ac- 
cepted the  offer  of  a  partnership  in  an  important  mercan- 
tile house  at  St.  Petersburg,  extensively  engaged  in  the 
Caspian  trade,  then  in  its  infancy.  Mr.  Hanway  went 
out  to  Russia  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  business  ; 
and  shortly  after  his  arrival,  he  found  it  necessary  to  visit 
the  principal  seats  of  the  trade  in  person.  He  accord- 
ingly set  out  for  Persia,  with  a  caravan  of  English  bales 
of  cloth  making  twenty  carriage  loads.  In  ten  days  from 
St.  Petersburg  he  reached  Moscow,  seven  days  after  he 
entered  the  Steppe,  and  in  other  eight  days  he  reached 
Zuritzen  on  the  Volga.  There  he  embarked  for  Astra- 
can,  and  with  difficulty  escaped  the  perils  of  the  passage 
down  the  river,  which  was  then  infested  by  gangs  of 
robber-boatmen,  who  lived  by  plundering  the  traders. 
From  Astracan  he  sailed  for  Astrabad,  on  the  southeast- 
ern shore  of  the  Caspian,  where  he  had  scarcely  landed 
his  bales,  when  an  insurrection  broke  out,  his  goods  were 
seized,  and  though  he  afterwards  recovered  the  principal 
part  of  them,  the  fruits  of  his  enterprise  were  in  a  great 
measure  lost.  A  plot  was  even  set  on  foot  to  seize  him- 
self and  his  party  ;  so  he  timely  took  to  sea,  and  after 
encountering  great  perils  and  exposure  in  an  open  boat, 
which  he  bore  with  exemplary  patience  and  courage,  he 
reached  Ghilan  in  safety.  His  escape  on  this  occasion 
gave  him  the  first  idea  of  the  words  which  he  afterwards 
ao* 


226  JONAS  HANWAY.  CHAP.  VII 

adopted  as  the  motto  of  his  life,  —  "  Never  Despair? 
After  travelling  many  hundred  miles  amidst  hostile 
bands,  he  prepared  to  leave  the  country,  but  invested  the 
money  which  he  had  realized  by  the  sale  of  his  partly 
recovered  goods  in  the  purchase  of  raw  silk,  which  event- 
ually proved  a  successful  venture.  He  afterwards  re- 
sided in  St.  Petersburg  for  five  years,  carrying  on  a 
lucrative  and  prosperous  business. 

A  relative  having  left  him  some  property,  and  his 
means  being  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  return  to  Eng- 
land, Hanway  left  Russia,  and  arrived  in  his  native 
country  in  1750,  after  an  absence  of  about  eight  years. 
His  object  in  returning  to  England  was,  as  he  himself 
expressed  it,  "  to  consult  his  own  health  (which  was  ex- 
tremely delicate),  and  do  as  much  good  to  himself  and 
others  as  he  was  able."  The  rest  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
deeds  of  active  benevolence  and  usefulness  to  his  fellow- 
men.  He  lived  in  a  quiet  style,  in  order  that  he  might 
employ  a  larger  share  of  his  income  in  purposes  of 
benevolence.  One  of  the  first  public  improvements  to 
which  he  devoted  himself,  was  that  of  the  highways  of 
the  metropolis.  The  streets  of  London  were  then  in  a 
wretched  state,  —  ill  paved,  full  of  ruts  and  holes,  and 
filthy  in  the  extreme.  Sign-boards  swung  creakingly 
over  the  footways  beneath,  which  were  inclosed  from  the 
carriage-way  by  rows  of  posts ;  but  the  space  was  so  nar- 
row that  there  was  barely  room  for  one  person  to  pass 
another  on  foot,  and  in  wet  weather  torrents  of  dirty 
water  fell  upon  the  passengers  from  the  projecting  spouts 
on  either  side  the  street.  Mr.  Hanway  took  up  the  sub- 
ject with  great  vigor,  and  urged  the  necessity  for  im- 
provement so  pertinaciously,  that  at  length  he  secured 
the  interference  of  the  legislature.  An  accident,  which 


CHAP.  VH.  JONAS  HANWAY.  227 

happened  to  the  carriage  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  (Mr.  Onslow),  in  passing  through  the  nar 
row  entrance  near  Craig's  Court,  at  Charing  Cross,  con- 
tributed to  force  the  subject  on  public  attention,  and  the 
Act  appointing  commissioners  was  passed ;  since  which 
the  streets  of  London  have  become  as  creditable  to  the 
wealth  of  the  metropolis  as  they  were  formerly  a  dis- 
grace. 

The  old  and  often  recurring  rumor  of  a  French  inva- 
sion having  come  up  in  1755,  and  a  formidable  squadron 
and  large  body  of  forces  having  been  assembled  at  Brest, 
for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  making  a  descent  upon  this 
country,  Mr.  Han  way  turned  his  attention  to  the  best 
mode  of  keeping  up  our  breed  of  seamen.  The  Act 
passed  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  directing  every  master  of 
a  vessel  of  thirty  tons  and  upwards  to  take  one  or  more 
apprentices  from  the  parish,  being  found  inoperative,  Mr. 
Hanway  endeavored  by  sundry  printed  letters  to  urge 
the  masters  in  the  merchant  service  to  comply  with  the 
directions  of  the  Act ;  but  the  single  voice  of  an  individ- 
ual was  too  feeble  to  be  heard  where  self-interest  was 
concerned.  Determined,  however,  to  do  what  he  could 
to  remedy  the  defect,  Hanway  summoned  a  meeting  of 
merchants  and  shipowners  at  the  Royal  Exchange,  and 
there  proposed  to  them  to  form  themselves  into  a  society 
for  fitting  out  landsmen  volunteers  and  boys,  to  serve  on 
board  the  king's  ships.  The  proposal  was  received  with 
enthusiasm ;  a  society  was  formed,  and  officers  were  ap- 
pointed, Mr.  Hanway  directing  its  entire  operations.  The 
result  was  the  establishment  in  1756  of  The  Marine  So- 
ciety, an  institution  which  has  proved  of  real  national 
advantage,  and  to  this  day  is  of  great  and  substantial 
utility.  Six  years  after  the  society  was  formed,  5,451 


228  MARINE  SOCIETY;  FOUNDLING  HOSPITAL.   CHAP.  VII 

boys  and  4,787  landsmen  volunteers  had  been  fitted  oul 
by  the  society  and  added  to  the  navy,  and  to  this  day  it 
is  in  active  operation,  about  600  poor  boys,  after  a  care- 
ful education,  being  annually  apprenticed  as  sailors,  prin 
cipally  in  the  merchant  service. 

Mr.  Hanway  devoted  the  other  portions  of  his  sparfe , 
time  to  improving  or  establishing  important  public  insti- 
tutions in  the  metropolis.  From  an  early  period  he  took 
an  active  interest  in  the  Foundling  Hospital,  which  had 
been  started  by  one  Thomas  Coram  many  years  before. 
A  charter  had  been  obtained  in  1739,  and  an  hospital 
was  erected  for  the  reception  of  foundlings  in  1742-9. 
The  institution  was  supported  with  munificent  zeal ;  not 
less  than  10,0001.  was  collected  at  the  musical  perform- 
ances under  Handel,  who  also  presented  an  organ  to  the 
chapel,  and  the  score  of  his  "Messiah"  to  the  guardians. 
Parliament  granted  10,000£,  and  the  funds  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  institution  were  so  abundant  that  the  guar- 
dians opened  their  doors  to  receive  "  all  children  net 
exceeding  two  months  old  which  should  be  offered.5' 
The  consequence  was,  that  an  immense  number  of  chil- 
dren were  sent  in,  whose  parents  were  themselves  suffi- 
ciently able  to  maintain  and  educate  them.  Though 
the  foundling  sentiment  was  the  fashion,  like  many 
other  sentiments  without  sense,  it  threatened  soon  to  do 
far  more  harm  than  good  ;  and  it  began  to  be  feared 
that  the  humanity  might  even  prove  inhuman.  Mr. 
Hanway  was  one  of  the  first  to  point  out  this ;  he  saw 
that  by  holding  out  to  selfish  parents  the  prospect  of 
getting  their  children  provided  for  and  taken  care  of  by 
the  hospital,  the  tendency  was  to  promote  licentiousness^ 
as  well  as  to  sever  the  natural  tie  which  binds  togethev 
the  family ;  and  he  accordingly  paid  501.  to  qualify  him 


CHAP.  VII.  JONAS  HANWAY.  229 

self  as  a  governor,  in  order  that  he  might  be  in  a  better 
position  to  take  steps  to  stem  the  evil.  He  enteied  upon 
this  work  in  the  face  of  the  fashionable  philanthropy  OA 
the  time  ;  holding  to  his  purpose  until  he  had  brought 
the  charity  back  to  its  proper  objects  ;  and  time  and  ex- 
perience have  amply  proved  that  he  was  in  the  right. 
In  1771  Parliament  withdrew  its  grants,  and  the  hospi- 
tal has  since  been  left  to  the  support  of  private  charity, 
which  has  proved  amply  sufficient,  whilst  every  security 
is  taken  that  the  objects  of  the  institution  are  not  abused. 
The  Magdalen  Hospital  was  also  established,  in  a  great 
measure  through  Mr.  Hanway's  exertions,  in  1758  ;  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  institution  has  been 
the  means  of  restoring  many  poor  women  to  virtuous 
courses,  who  would  otherwise  have  been  lost.  Mr.  Han- 
way  was  accustomed  to  invite  to  his  house  those  who 
had  been  recovered  through  its  instrumentality,  on  which 
occasions  he  endeavored  to  strengthen  and  uphold  them 
in  their  good  resolutions,  while  he  kindly  watched  over 
their  well-doing  in  life. 

But  Jonas  Hanway's  most  laborious  and  persevering 
efforts  were  in  behalf  of  the  infant  parish  poor.  The 
subsequent  labors  of  Howard  in  behalf  of  prisoners  were 
not  more  honorable  to  him,  than  were  those  of  Hanway 
in  behalf  of  the  helpless  and  innocent  offspring  of  the 
unfortunate.  The  misery  and  neglect  amidst  which  the 
children  of  the  parish  poor  then  grew  up,  and  the  mor- 
tality which  prevailed  amongst  them,  were  positively 
frightful ;  but  there  was  no  fashionable  movement  on 
foot  to  remedy  the  evil,  as  in  the  case  of  the  foundlings. 
So  Jonas  Hanway  summoned  his  individual  energies  to 
the  task.  Alone  and  unassisted,  he  first  endeavored  to 
ascertain  by  personal  inquiry  the  extent  of  the  evil, 


230  THE  INFANT  PARISH  POOR.          CHAP.  VIL 

He  explored  the  miserable  and  unhealthy  dwellings  of 
the  poorest  classes  in  London,  and  visited  the  poor- 
house  sick  wards,  by  which  he  carefully  ascertained 
the  management  in  detail  of  every  workhouse  in  and 
near  the  metropolis.  In  order  then  to  ascertain  in  what 
manner  the  legislators  of  foreign  countries  had  dealt 
with  a  similar  evil,  he  made  a  journey  into  France, 
through  Holland,  visiting  all  the  public  houses  for  the 
reception  of  the  poor  on  his  way,  and  noting  whatever 
he  thought  might  be  adopted  at  home  with  advantage. 
He  was  thus  employed  for  five  years ;  and  on  his  re- 
turn to  England,  at  intervals,  he  published  the  result 
of  his  observations ;  but  his  accounts  were  so  melan- 
choly that  they  were  generally  disbelieved,  and  he 
made  many  enemies  in  consequence  of  having  ventured 
to  publish  the  names  of  every  parish  officer,  of  what- 
ever rank  in  life,  under  whose  hands  any  infants  had 
died  of  neglect.  It  appeared  that  in  one  workhouse,  in 
St.  Clement  Danes,  one  nurse  had  twenty-three  poor 
children  committed  to  her  care  in  the  year  1765, 
of  whom  eighteen  had  died,  two  were  discharged,  and 
only  three  remained  alive.  Of  seventy-four  children 
received  into  the  workhouse  of  St.  Andrew  and  St. 
George,  Holborn,  sixty-four  had  died  during  the  same 
jrear.  In  some  populous  parishes,  /lot  a  single  child 
was  found  alive  at  the  end  of  twelve  months;  all  had 
died.  Wherever  his  statements  were  disputed,  he  pub- 
lished the  names  of  the  children,  the  date  of  each  birth 
and  admission,  the  time  the  child  had  lived,  and  the 
name  of  its  nurse.  He  next  made  a  journey  through- 
out England,  to  compare  the  mortality  in  country  work- 
houses with  that  of  the  metropolis ;  and  everywhere  he 
found  the  same  excessive  mortality,  arising  from  over- 


CHAP.  VII.  JONAS  HANWAY.  231 

crowding,  ill  ventilation,  and  neglect.  The  publication 
of  such  striking  facts,  and  the  known  integrity  of  the 
man,  could  not  fail  to  produce  an  effect  even  upon  the 
most  indifferent ;  and  many  workhouses  speedily  be- 
came reformed  and  improved.  In  1761  he  had  ob- 
tained an  Act  obliging  every  London  parish  to  keep  an 
annual  register  of  all  the  infants  received,  discharged, 
and  dead ;  and  he  took  care  that  the  Act  should  work, 
for  he  himself  superintended  its  working  with  indefati- 
gable watchfulness.  He  went  about  from  workhouse  to 
workhouse  in  the  morning,  and  from  one  member  of 
Parliament  to  another  in  the  afternoon,  for  day  after 
day,  and  for  year  after  year,  enduring  every  rebuff,  an- 
swering every  objection,  and  accommodating  himself  to 
every  humor.  At  length,  after  a  perseverance  hardly 
to  be  equalled,  and  after  nearly  ten  years'  labor,  he  ob- 
tained an  Act,  at  his  own  sole  expense,  (7  Geo.  III. 
c.  39,)  directing  that  all  parish  infants  belonging  to  the 
parishes  within  the  bills  of  mortality  shall  not  be  nursed 
in  the  workhouses,  but  be  sent  to  nurse  a  certain  number 
of  miles  out  of  town,  until  they  are  six  years  old,  under 
the  care  of  guardians,  to  be  elected  triennially.  The 
poor  people  called  this  "  the  Act  for  keeping  children 
alive ; "  and  the  registers  for  the  years  which  followed 
its  passing,  as  compared  with  those  which  preceded  it, 
showed  that  thousands  of  lives  had  been  preserved 
through  the  judicious  interference  of  this  good  and  sen- 
Bible  man. 

Wherever  a  philanthropic  work  was  to  be  done  in 
London,  be  sure  that  Jonas  Hanway's  hand  was  in  it 
One  of  the  first  Acts  for  the  protection  of  chimney- 
sweepers' boys  was  obtained  through  his  influence.*  A 

*  While  exerting  himself  cm  behalf  of  the  little  sweeps,  one  day 


232  HANWAY'S  KEWAED.  CHAP.  VII. 

destructive  fire  at  Montreal,  and  another  at  Bridgetown, 
Barbadoes,  afforded  him  the  opportunity  for  raising  a 
timely  subscription  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  His 
name  appeared  in  every  list,  and  his  disinterestedness  and 
sincerity  were  universally  recognized.  Bat  he  was  not 
suffered  to  waste  his  little  fortune  entirely  in  the  ser- 
vice of  others.  Five  leading  citizens  of  London,  head- 
ed by  Mr.  Hoare,  the  banker,  without  Mr.  Hanway's 
knowledge,  waited  on  Lord  Bute,  then  minister,  in  a 
body ;  and  in  the  names  of  their  fellow-citizens,  request- 
ed that  some  notice  might  be  taken  of  this  good  man's 
disinterested  services  to  his  country.  The  result  was, 
his  appointment  shortly  after,  as  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  victualling  the  navy. 

One  of  the  minor  social  evils  against  which  Mr.  Han- 
way  lifted  up  his  voice,  was  the  custom  of  what  was 
called  vails-giving,  —  or  the  gratuities  then  paid  by  visit- 
ors at  the  houses  which  they  frequented,  and  which  the 
servants  had  come  to  regard  as  a  right.  Mr.  Han  way  was 
on  one  occasion  thus  paying  the  servants  of  a  respectable 
friend  with  whom  he  had  dined,  one  by  one  as  they  ap- 
peared :  "  Sir,  your  great  coat,"  —  a  shilling :  "  Your  hat," 

he  said  to  a  little  fellow  who  had  been  sweeping  a  chimney  in  his 
own  house,  "  Suppose  now  I  give  you  a  shilling?  "  "  God  Almighty 
bless  your  honor,  and  thank  you."  "  And  what  if  I  give  you  a  fine 
tie-wig  to  wear  on  May-day,  which  is  just  at  hand?"  "  Ah,  bless 
your  honor!  my  master  won't  let  me  go  out  on  May- day."  "No! 
why  not?"  "He  says  iVs  low  life."  Mr.  Hanway  was  a  religious 
man,  and  on  one  occasion,  when  hiring  a  coachman,  and  telling  him 
the  duty  he  required,  he  concluded,  "  You  will  attend  with  the  rest 
of  the  family  every  evening  at  prayers."  "  Prayers,  sir!  "  "  Why, 
did  you  never  say  your  prayers?"  asked  Mr.  Hanway.  "I  have 
never  been  in  a  praying  family,"  answered  the  man.  "  But  have 
you  any  objection  to  say  your  prayers?  "  "  No,  sir,  I've  no  objec- 
tion; I  hope  you'll  consider  it  in  my  wages." 


CHAP.  VII.  JONAS  HAN  WAY.  233 

—  shitting :  "  Stick,"  —  shilling  :  "  Umbrella,"  —  shilling . 
w  Sir,  your  gloves."  "  Why,  friend,"  said  he?  "  you  may 
keep  the  gloves,  they  are  not  worth  a  shilling."  This 
absurd  practice  was  eventually  put  down  by  satire,  — and 
the  death-blow  was  given  to  it  by  Dodsley's  "  High  Life 
below  Stairs." 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life  Mr.  Hanway's  health  be- 
came very  feeble,  and  although  he  found  it  necessary  to 
resign  his  office  at  the  Victualling  Board,  he  could  not  be 
idle ;  but  worked  away  at  the  establishment  of  Sunday 
Schools,  —  a  movement  then  in  its  infancy,  —  or  in  re- 
lieving poor  blacks,  many  of  whom  then  wandered  desti- 
tute about  the  streets  of  the  metropolis,  —  or  in  alleviat- 
ing the  sufferings  of  some  neglected  and  destitute  class 
of  society.  Notwithstanding  his  familiarity  with  misery 
in  all  its  shapes,  he  was  one  of  the  most  cheerful  of  be- 
ings ;  and,  but  for  his  cheerfulness  he  could  never,  with 
so  delicate  a  frame,  have  got  through  so  vast  an  amount 
of  self-imposed  work.  He  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as 
inactivity.  Though  fragile,  he  was  bold  and  indefatigable  ; 
and  his  moral  courage  was  of  the  first  order.  It  may 
be  regarded  as  a  trivial  matter  to  mention,  that  he  was 
the  first  who  ventured  to  walk  the  streets  of  London  with 
an  umbrella  over  his  head.  But  let  any  modern  London 
merchant  venture  to  walk  along  Cornhill  in  a  peaked 
Chinese  hat,  and  he  will  find  it  takes  some  degree  of 
moral  courage  to  persevere  in  it.  After  carrying  an  um« 
brella  for  thirty  years,  Mr.  Hanway  saw  the  article  at 
length  come  into  general  use. 

Hanway  was  a  man  of  strict  honor,  truthfulness,  and 
integrity ;  and  everything  he  said  might  be  relied  upon. 
He  had  so  great  a  respect,  amounting  almost  to  a  rever 
ence,  for  the  character  of  the  honest  merchant,  that  it 


234  HANWAY'S    CHARACTER.  CHAP.  VII, 

was  the  zmly  subject  upon"  which  he  was  ever  seduced 
into  a  enlogiiim.  He  strictly  practised  what  he  pro- 
fessed, and  both  as  a  merchant  and  afterwards  as  a  com- 
missioner for  victualling  the  navy,  his  conduct  was  with- 
out stain.  He  would  not  accept  the  slightest  favor  of 
any  sort  from  a  contractor ;  and  when  any  present  was 
sent  to  him  whilst  at  the  Victualling  Office,  he  would 
politely  return  it,  with  the  intimation  that  "  he  had  made 
it  a  rule  not  to  accept  anything  from  any  person  engaged 
with  the  office."  When,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four,  he 
found  his  vital  powers  failing,  he  prepared  for  death  with 
as  much  cheerfulness  as  he  would  have  prepared  himself 
for  a  journey  into  the  country.  He  sent  round  and  paid 
all  his  tradesmen,  took  leave  of  his  friends,  arranged  his 
affairs,  had  his  person  neatly  disposed  of,  and  his  last 
breath  escaped  him  in  the  midst  of  a  sentence  which 
began  with  the  word  "  Christ."  The  property  which  he 
left  did  not  amount  to  two  thousand  pounds,  and,  as  he 
had  no  relatives  who  wanted  it,  he  divided  it  amongst 
sundry  orphans  and  poor  persons  whom  he  had  befriended 
during  his  lifetime.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the  beautiful 
life  of  Jonas  Hanway,  —  as  honest,  energetic,  hard-work- 
ing, and  true-hearted  a  man  as  ever  lived. 

The  life  of  Granville  Sharp  is  another  striking  example 
of  the  same  power  of  individual  energy,  —  a  power  which 
was  afterwards  transfused  into  the  noble  band  of  workers 
in  the  cause  of  Slavery  Abolition,  prominent  among  whom 
were  Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  Buxton,  and  Brougham.  But, 
giants  though  these  men  were  in  this  cause,  Granville 
Sharp  was  the  first,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  of  them  all, 
in  point  of  perseverance,  energy,  and  intrepidity.  He 
began  life  as  apprentice  to  a  linen-draper  on  Tower  Hill ; 
but,  leaving  that  business  after  his  apprenticeship  was 


CHAP.  VII.  GRANVILLE  SHARP.  235 

out,  he  next  entered  as  a  clerk  in  the  Ordnance  Office 
and  it  was  while  engaged  in  that  humble  position  that  he 
carried  on  in  his  spare  hours  the  work  of  Negro  Emanci- 
pation. He  was  always,  even  when  an  apprentice,  ready 
to  undertake  any  amount  of  volunteer  labor  where  any 
useful  purpose  was  to  be  served.  Thus,  while  learn- 
ing the  linen-drapery  business,  a  fellow-apprentice,  who 
lodged  in  the  same  house,  and  was  a  Unitarian,  led  him 
into  frequent  discussions  on  religious  subjects  ;  in  the 
course  of  which  the  Unitarian  youth  insisted  that  Gran- 
ville's  Trinitarian  misconception  of  certain  passages  of 
Scripture  arose  from  his  want  of  acquaintance  with  the 
Greek  tongue ;  on  which  he  immediately  set  to  work  in 
his  evening  hours,  and  shortly  acquired  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  Greek.  A  similar  controversy  with  another  fel- 
low-apprentice, a  Jew,  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
prophecies,  led  him  in  like  manner  to  undertake  and 
overcome  the  difficulties  of  Hebrew. 

But  the  circumstance  which  gave  the  bias  and  direc- 
tion to  the  main  labors  of  his  life,  originated  in  his  gener- 
osity and  benevolence.  It  was  in  this  wise.  His  brother 
William,  a  surgeon  in  Mincing  Lane,  gave  gratuitous 
advice  to  the  poor,  and  amongst  the  numerous  applicants 
for  relief  at  his  surgery  was  a  poor  African  named  Jon- 
athan Strong.  It  appeared  that  the  negro  had  been  so 
brutally  treated  by  his  master,  a  Barbadoes  lawyer  then 
in  London,  that  he  had  been  thereby  rendered  lame  and 
almost  blind,  and  was  altogether  unable  to  work ;  and  his 
owner,  regarding  him  as  no  longer  of  the  slightest  value 
as  a  chattel,  but  likely  only  to  involve  him  in  expense, 
cruelly  turned  him  adrift  into  the  streets  of  London.  This 
poor  man,  a  mass  of  disease,  supported  himself  by  beg- 
ging for  a  time,  until  he  found  his  way  to  William  Step, 


236  THE  SLAVE.  CHAP.  VII, 

who  gave  him  some  medicine,  and  shortly  after  got  him 
admitted  to  St.  Bartholomew's  hospital,  where  he  was 
cured.  On  coming  out  of  the  hospital,  the  two  brothers 
supported  the  negro  in  order  to  keep  him  off  the  streets, 
but  they  had  not  the  least  suspicion  at  the  time  that  any 
one  had  a  claim  upon  his  person.  They  even  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  situation  for  Strong  with  an  apothecary,  in 
whose  service  he  remained  for  two  years;  and  it  was 
while  he  was  attending  his  mistress  behind  a  hackney- 
coach,  that  his  former  owner,  the  Barbadoes  lawyer, 
recognized  him,  and  determined  to  recover  possession  of 
the  slave,  again  rendered  valuable  by  the  restoration  of 
his  health.  The  lawyer  employed  two  of  the  Lord 
Mayor's  officers  to  apprehend  Strong,  and  he  was  lodged 
in  the  Compter,  until  he  could  be  shipped  off  to  the  West 
Indies.  The  negro,  bethinking  him  in  his  captivity  of 
the  kind  services  which  Granville  Sharp  had  rendered 
him  in  his  great  distress  some  years  before,  dispatched  a 
letter  to  him  requesting  his  help.  Sharp  had  forgotten 
the  name  of  Strong,  but  he  sent  a  messenger  to  make 
inquiries,  who  returned  saying  that  the  keepers  denied 
having  any  such  person  in  their  charge.  His  suspicions 
were  roused,  and  he  went  forthwith  to  the  prison,  and 
insisted  upon  seeing  Jonathan  Strong.  He  was  admitted, 
and  recognized  the  poor  negro,  now  in  custody  as  a  recap- 
tured slave.  Mr.  Sharp  charged  the  master  of  the 
prison  at  his  own  peril  not  to  deliver  up  Strong  to  any 
person  whatever,  until  he  had  been  carried  before  the 
Lord  Mayor,  to  whom  Sharp  immediately  went,  and  ob- 
tained a  summons  against  those  persons  who  had  seized 
and  imprisoned  Strong  without  a  warrant.  The  parties 
appeared  before  the  Lord  Mayor  accordingly,  and  it  ap- 
peared from  the  proceedings  that  Strong's  former  master 


CHAP.  VII.      SLAVERY  IN  ENGLAND.          237 

had  already  sold  him  to  a  new  one,  who  produced  the 
bill  of  sale  and  claimed  the  negro  as  his  property.  As 
no  charge  of  offence  was  made  against  Strong,  and  as 
the  Lord  Mayor  was  incompetent  to  deal  with  the  legal 
question  as  to  Strong's  liberty  or  otherwise,  he  discharged 
him,  and  the  slave  followed  his  benefactor  out  of  court, 
no  one  daring  to  touch  him.  The  man's  owner  imme- 
diately gave  Sharp  notice  of  an  action  to  recover  posses- 
sion of  his  negro  slave,  of  whom  he  had  been  robbed ; 
and  now  commenced  that  protracted  and  energetic  move- 
ment in  favor  of  the  enslaved  negro,  which  forms  one  of 
the  brightest  pages  in  English  history. 

About  this  time  (1767),  the  personal  liberty  of  the 
Englishman,  though  cherished  as  a  theory,  was  subject 
to  grievous  infringements,  and  was  almost  daily  violated. 
The  impressment  of  men  for  the  sea-service  was  con- 
stantly practised,  and,  besides  the  pressgangs,  there  were 
regular  bands  of  kidnappers  employed  in  London  and  all 
the  large  towns  of  the  kingdom,  to  seize  men  for  the 
East  India  Company's  service.  And  when  the  men 
were  not  wanted  for  India,  they  were  shipped  off  to  the 
planters  in  the  American  colonies.  Negro  slaves  were 
openly  advertised  for  sale  in  the  London  and  Liverpool 
newspapers.  For  instance,  the  Gazetteer,  of  April  18th, 
1769,  classed  together  for  sale,  "at  the  Bull  and  Gate 
Inn,  Holborn,  a  chestnut  gelding,  a  tim-whiskey,  and 
a  well-made,  good-tempered  black  boy."  Rewards  were 
then  offered,  as  now  in  the  Slave  States  of  America,  for 
recovering  and  securing  fugitive  slaves,  and  for  convey- 
ing them  down  to  certain  specified  ships  in  the  river. 
That  no  shame  was  felt  at  the  open  recognition  of  slav- 
ery, is  apparent  from  an  advertisement  in  the  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser, of  the  16th  May,  1768,  offering  a  reward  to 


238  SLAVERY  IN  ENGLAND.  CHAP.  VII. 

whoe\  er  would  apprehend  a  negro  boy  and  bring  him, 
or  send  tidings  of  him  to  Mr.  Alderman  Beckford,  in 
Pall  Mall.  The  Public  Advertiser,  of  the  28th  No- 
vember, 1769,  contains  this  advertisement:  —  "To  BE 

SOLD,  a    black    girl,  the  property  of  J.  B ,  eleven 

years  of  age,  who  is  tolerably  handy,  works  at  her  nee- 
dle tolerably,  and  speaks  English  perfectly  well;  is  of 
an  excellent  temper,  and  willing  disposition.  —  Inquire 
of  Mr.  Owen,  at  the  Angel  Inn,  behind  St.  Clement's 
Church,  in  the  Strand."  Such  was  the  state  of  matters 
when  Granville  Sharp  threw  himself,  body  and  soul,  into 
his  great  work.  Though  only  a  clerk  in  a  public  office, 
without  any  personal  influence  whatever,  and  armed  only 
with  integrity  and  boldness  in  a  good  cause,  he  was  en- 
abled in  the  issue  effectually  to  vindicate  the  personal 
liberty  of  the  subject,  and  to  establish  as  a  fact  what  up 
to  that  time  had  been  but  a  theory,  —  that  the  slave  who 
sets  his  foot  on  British  ground  becomes  at  that  instant 
free! 

As  yet  the  position  of  the  reputed  slave  in  England 
was  undefined  and  doubtful.  The  judgments  which  had 
been  given  in  the  courts  of  law  were  fluctuating  and  vari- 
ous, resting  on  no  settled  principle.  Although  it  was  a 
popular  belief  that  no  slave  could  breathe  in  England, 
there  were  legal  men  of  great  eminence  who  had  ex- 
pressed a  directly  contrary  opinion.  Thus,  Mr.  Yorke, 
Attorney- General,  and  Mr.  Talbot,  Solicitor- General  of 
England  in  1729,  concurred  in  the  decided  opinion  that 
the  slave  by  coming  into  England  did  not  become  free ; 
that  his  owner's  property  in  him  was  in  no  respect  de- 
termined or  varied;  and  that  his  master  might  legally 
compel  the  slave  to  return  again  to  the  plantations.  The 
lawyers  to  whom  Mr.  Sharp  resorted  for  advice,  in  de- 


CHAP.  VII.  GBANVILLE  SHARP.  239 

fending  himself  in  the  action  raised  against  him  in  the 
case  of  Jonathan  Strong,  generally  concurred  in  this 
view,  and  he  was  further  told  by  Jonathan  Strong's 
owner,  that  the  eminent  Lord  Chief  Justice  Mansfield, 
and  all  the  leading  counsel,  were  decidedly  of  the  saim 
opinion.  Such  information  would  have  caused  despaii 
in  a  mind  less  courageous  and  earnest  than  that  of  Gran- 
ville  Sharp;  but  it  only  served  to  stimulate  his  reso- 
lution to  depend  mainly  upon  his  own  efforts  in  the 
arduous  battle  which  now  lay  before  him.  "  Thus  for- 
saken," he  said,  "by  my  professional  defenders,  I  was 
compelled,  through  the  want  of  regular  legal  assistance, 
to  make  a  hopeless  attempt  at  self-defence,  though  I  was 
totally  unacquainted  either  with  the  practice  of  the  law 
or  the  foundations  of  it,  having  never  opened  a  law-book 
(except  the  Bible)  in  my  life,  until  that  time,  when  I 
most  reluctantly  undertook  to  search  the  indexes  of  a  law 
library,  which  my  bookseller  had  lately  purchased." 

The  whole  of  his  time  during  the  day  was  occupied 
with  the  business  of  the  ordnance  department,  where  he 
held  the  most  laborious  post  in  the  office ;  he  was  there- 
fore under  the  necessity  of  conducting  his  new  studies 
late  at  night  or  early  in  the  morning.  He  confessed 
that  he  was  himself  becoming  a  sort  of  slave.  Writing 
to  a  clerical  friend,  to  excuse  himself  for  delay  in  re- 
plying to  a  letter,  he  said,  "I  profess  myself  entirely 
incapable  of  holding  a  literary  correspondence.  What 
little  time  I  have  been  able  to  save  from  sleep  at  night, 
and  early  in  the  morning,  has  been  necessarily  employed 
in  the  examination  of  some  points  of  law,  which  admitted 
of  no  delay,  and  yet  required  the  most  diligent  researches 
and  examination  in  my  study.  And  I  have  not  scrupled 
to  employ  now  and  then,  even  the  leisure  of  a  Sunday 


240  SHARP'S  STUDY  OF  THE  LAW.         CHAP.  VII, 

in  this  manner,  because  my  labor  has  not  been  for  profit, 
but  merely  with  a  view  to  do  good,  and  prevent  injustice, 
by  pointing  out  some  notorious  corruptions  in  the  beaten 
paths  of  the  law,  which  has  enabled  me  to  serve  a  few 
individuals,  I  hope  with  good  effect." 

In  pursuance  of  his  resolution,  now  fully  formed,  he 
gave  up  every  leisure  moment  that  he  could  command 
during  the  next  two  years,  to  the  close  study  of  the  laws 
of  England  affecting  personal  liberty,  —  wading  through 
an  immense  mass  of  dry  and  repulsive  literature,  worse 
than  Dryasdust,  and  making  extracts  of  all  the  most 
important  Acts  of  Parliament,  decisions  of  the  courts, 
and  opinions  of  eminent  lawyers,  as  he  went  along.  In 
this  tedious  and  protracted  inquiry  he  had  no  instructor, 
nor  assistant,  nor  adviser.  He  could  not  find  a  single 
lawyer  whose  opinion  was  favorable  to  his  undertaking. 
The  results  of  his  inquiries  were,  however,  as  gratifying 
to  himself  as  they  were  surprising  to  the  gentlemen  of 
the  law.  "  God  be  thanked/'  he  wrote,  "  there  is  nothing 
in  any  English  law  or  statute  —  at  least  that  I  am  able 
to  find  out — that  can  justify  the  enslaving  of  others." 
He  thought  he  now  saw  a  clear  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  had  embarrassed  the  former  trials  of  ne- 
gro cases.  He  had  bottomed  the  whole  inquiry,  and 
found  that  a  slave  really  could  not  breathe  in  England. 
He  had  planted  his  foot  firm,  and  now  he  doubted  noth- 
ing. He  drew  up  the  result  of  his  studies  in  a  summary 
form  :  it  was  a  plain,  clear,  and  manly  statement,  entitled, 
"  On  the  Injustice  of  tolerating  Slavery  in  England ; " 
and  numerous  copies,  made  by  himself,  were  circulated 
by  him  amongst  the  most  eminent  lawyers  of  the  time. 
Strong's  owner,  finding  the  sort  of  man  he  had  to  deal 
with,  invented  various  pretexts  for  deferring  the  suit 


CHAP.  VII.  GRANVILLE  SHARP.  241 

against  Sharp,  and  at  length  offered  a  compromise,  which 
was  rejected.  Granville  went  on  circulating  his  manu- 
script tracts  among  the  lawyers,  until  at  length  those 
employed  against  Jonathan  Strong  were  deterred  from 
proceeding  further,  and  the  result  was,  that  the  plaintiff 
was  compelled  to  pay  treble  costs  for  not  bringing  for- 
ward his  action.  The  tract  was  then  printed  in  1769. 

The  vindication  of  the  emancipated  Jonathan  Strong 
naturally  led  Mr.  Sharp  on  to  the  study  of  the  general 
subject  of  the  Slave-Trade,  and  he  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  imploring  his  Grace's  pow- 
erful assistance,  —  which  does  not  seem,  however,  to  have 
been  then  responded  to.  In  the  mean  time  other  cases  oc- 
curred of  the  kidnapping  of  negroes  in  London,  and  their 
shipment  to  the  West  Indies  for  sale.  Wherever  Sharp 
could  lay  hold  of  any  such  case,  he  at  once  took  proceed- 
ings to  rescue  the  negro.  Thus  the  wife  of  one  Hylas, 
an  African,  was  seized,  and  dispatched  to  Barbadoes  ;  on 
which  Sharp,  in  the  name  of  Hylas,  instituted  legal  pro- 
ceedings against  the  aggressor,  obtained  a  verdict  with 
damages,  and  Hylas's  wife  was  brought  back  to  England 
free.  Sharp's  mind  became  fully  awakened  to  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  abuse  against  which  he  was  contending  as 
yet  single-handed,  and  he  watched  anxiously  on  every 
side  to  prevent  an  accumulation  of  the  evil. 

Another  forcible  capture  of  a  negro,  attended  with 
great  cruelty,  having  occurred  in  1770,  he  immediately 
set  himself  on  the  track  of  the  aggressors.  An  African, 
named  Lewis,  was  seized  one  dark  night  by  two  water- 
men employed  by  the  person  who  claimed  the  negro  as 
his  property,  dragged  into  the  water,  hoisted  into  a  boat, 
where  he  was  gagged,  and  his  limbs  were  tied ;  and  then 
rowing  down  river,  they  put  him  on  board  a  ship  bound 
11 


242  THE  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY.         CHAP.  VII. 

for  Jamaica,  where  he  was  to  be  sold  for  a  slave  upon 
his  arrival  in  the  island.     The  cries  of  the  poor  negro 
had,  however,  attracted  the  attention  of  some  neighbors,  — 
the  house  adjoining  that  from  which  the  man  had  been 
torn  being  then  occupied  by  Mrs.  Banks,  the  mother  of 
the  afterwards  celebrated  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  —  and  ox 
the  next  morning,  the  good  lady  proceeded  direct  to  Mr. 
Granville  Sharp,  now  known  as  the  negroes'  friend,  and 
informed  him  of  the  outrage.     Sharp  immediately  got  a 
warrant  to  bring  back  Thomas  Lewis,  and  proceeded  to 
Gravesend,  but  on  arrival  there  the  ship  had  sailed  for 
the  Downs.      A  writ  of  habeas   corpus   was   obtained, 
sent  down  to  Spithead,  and  before  the  ship  could  leave 
the  shores  of  England,  the  writ  was  served.     The  slave 
was  found   chained   to   the   mainmast   bathed   in   tears, 
casting  mournful  looks  on  the  land  from  which  he  was 
about  to  be  torn ;  he  was  immediately  liberated,  brought 
back  to  London,  and  a  warrant  was  issued  against  the 
author  of  the  outrage.     The  promptitude  of  head,  heart, 
and  hand,  displayed   by  Mr.  Sharp  in  this  transaction, 
could  scarcely  have  been  surpassed,  and  yet  he  accused 
himself  of  slowness.     The  case  was  tried  before  Lord 
Mansfield,  —  whose  opinion,  it  will  be  remembered,  had 
already  been   expressed   as   decidedly  opposed   to   that 
entertained  by  Granville  Sharp.     On  this  occasion,  Mr. 
Dunning,  one  of  the  counsel  employed  on  behalf  of  the 
negro,  holding  up  Mr.  Sharp's  tract  in  his  hand,  declared 
before  the  court,  that  he  was  prepared  to  maintain  "  that 
DO  man  can  be  legally  detained  as  a  slave  in  this  coun- 
try."     Lord  Mansfield,  however,  avoided  bringing  tho 
question  to  an  issue,  or  offering  any  opinion  on  the  legal 
question  as  to  the  slave's  personal  liberty  or  otherwise, 
but  discharged  the  negro  because   the   defendant  could 


CHAP.  VII.  GRANVILLE  SHARP.  243 

bring  no  evidence  that  Lewis  was  even  nominally  his 
property. 

The  question  of  the  personal  liberty  of  the  negro  in 
England  was  therefore  still  undecided ;  but  in  the  mean 
time  Mr.  Sharp  continued  steady  in  his  benevolent  course, 
and  by  his  indefatigable  exertions  and  promptitude  of 
action,  many  more  were  added  to  the  list  of  the  rescued. 
At  length  the  important  case  of  James  Somerset  occurred ; 
a  case  which  is  said  to  have  been  selected,  at  the  mutual 
desire  of  Lord  Mansfield  and  Mr.  Sharp,  in  order  to 
bring  the  great  question  involved  to  a  clear  legal  issue. 
Somerset  had  been  brought  to  England  by  his  master, 
and  left  there.  Afterwards  his  master  sought  to  appre- 
hend him  and  send  him  off  to  Jamaica,  for  sale.  Mr. 
Sharp,  as  usual,  at  once  took  the  negro's  case  in  hand, 
and  employed  counsel  to  defend  him.  Lord  Mansfield 
intimated  that  the  case  was  of  such  general  concern,  that 
he  should  take  the  opinion  of  all  the  judges  upon  it. 
Mr.  Sharp  now  felt  that  he  would  have  to  contend  with 
all  the  force  that  could  be  brought  against  him,  but  his 
resolution  was  in  no  wise  shaken.  Fortunately  for  him, 
in  this  severe  struggle,  his  exertions  had  already  begun 
to  tell ;  increasing  interest  was  taken  in  the  question,  and 
many  eminent  legal  gentlemen  openly  declared  them- 
selves to  be  upon  his  side. 

The  cause  of  personal  liberty,  now  at  stake,  was  fairly 
tried  before  Lord  Mansfield,  assisted  by  the  three  jus- 
tices, —  and  tried  on  the  broad  principle  of  the  essential 
and  constitutional  right  of  every  man  in  England  to  the 
liberty  of  his  person,  unless  forfeited  by  the  law.  It  is 
unnecessary  here  to  enter  into  any  account  of  this  great 
trial;  the  arguments  extended  to  a  great  length,  the 
cause  being  carried  over  to  another  term,  —  when  it  was 


244  THE  CASE  OF  JAMES  SOMERSET.      CHAP.  VII. 

adjourned  and  readjourned, —  but  at  length  judgment 
was  given  by  Lord  Mansfield,  in  whose  powerful  mind 
so  gradual  a  change  had  been  worked  by  the  arguments 
of  counsel,  based  mainly  on  Granville  Sharp's  tract,  that 
he  now  declared  the  court  to  be  so  clearly  of  one  opinion, 
that  there  was  no  necessity  for  referring  the  case  to  the 
twelve  judges.  He  then  declared  that  the  claim  of  sla- 
very never  can  be  supported ;  that  the  power  claimed 
never  was  in  use  in  England,  nor  acknowledged  by  the 
law ;  therefore  the  man  James  Somerset  must  be  dis- 
charged. By  securing  this  judgment  Granville  Sharp 
effectually  abolished  the  Slave-Trade,  until  then  carried 
on  openly  in  the  streets  of  Liverpool  and  London.  But 
he  also  firmly  established  the  glorious  axiom,  that  as  soon 
as  any  slave  sets  his  foot  on  English  ground,  that  moment 
he  becomes  free ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this 
great  decision  of  Lord  Mansfield  was  mainly  owing  to 
Mr.  Sharp's  firm,  resolute,  and  intrepid  prosecution  of 
the  cause  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 

It  is  unnecessary  further  to  follow  the  career  of  Gran- 
ville Sharp.  He  continued  to  labor  indefatigably  in  all 
good  works  ;  he  was  instrumental  in  founding  the  colony 
of  Sierra  Leone  as  an  asylum  for  rescued  negroes  ;  he 
labored  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  native  Indians 
in  the  American  colonies.  Inspired  by  his  love  of  the 
English  character  and  constitution,  he  agitated  the  en- 
largement and  extension  of  the  political  rights  of  the 
English  people  ;  and  he  endeavored  to  effect  the  abolition 
of  the  impressment  of  seamen.  In  this  latter  enterprise 
he  encountered  the  vehement  opposition  of  the  great 
literary  elephant  of  the  day,  Dr.  Johnson,  who  trampled 
under  foot  the  arguments  of  the  humble  clerk  of  the 
Ordnance,  whilst  strongly  upholding  the  right  and  the 


CHAP.  VII.  GRANVILLE  SHARP.  245 

propriety  of  impressment.  Though  Sharp  could  not 
readily  answer  to  the  doctor's  big  bow-wow,  he  felt  that 
justice  and  truth  were  on  his  side.  "Important  self- 
sufficiency,  and  the  sound  of  big  words,"  said  Sharp, 
"  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  things.  I  am  far  from  being 
ready  at  giving  an  immediate  answer  to  subtle  argu- 
ments, so  that  I  may  seem  easily  baffled ;  indeed,  even 
when  I  am  by  no  means  convinced  that  they  have  the 
least  weight."  But  Granville  held  that  the  British  sea- 
man, as  well  as  the  African  negro,  was  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  the  law ;  and  that  the  fact  of  his  choosing 
a  seafaring  life  did  not  in  any  way  cancel  his  rights  and 
privileges  as  an  Englishman,  —  first  amongst  which  he 
ranked  personal  freedom.  Mr.  Sharp  also  labored,  but 
ineffectually,  to  restore  amity  between  England  and  her 
colonists  in  America ;  and  when  the  fratricidal  war  of 
the  American  Revolution  was  entered  on,  his  sense  of 
integrity  was  so  scrupulous  that,  resolving  not  in  any 
way  to  be  concerned  in  so  unnatural  a  business,  he  re- 
signed his  situation  at  the  Ordnance  Office.  Writing  to 
Mr.  Boddington,  the  secretary  of  the  department,  he  said, 
"  I  cannot  return  to  my  ordnance  duty  whilst  a  bloody 
war  is  carried  on,  unjustly,  as  I  conceive,  against  my  fel- 
low-subjects ;  and  yet,  to  resign  my  place  would  be  to 
give  up  a  calling  which,  by  my  close  attendance  to  it  for 
near  eighteen  years,  and  by  my  neglect  of  every  other 
means  of  subsistence  during  so  long  a  period,  is  now 
become  my  only  profession  and  livelihood."  Neverthe- 
less, he  did  so.  Many  characterized  this  conduct  as 
Quixotic ;  but  in  him  it  was  the  result  of  strong  virtuous 
principle. 

Among  Sharp's  subsequent  labors  were  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  the  founding 


246  SUBSEQUENT  LABORS.  CHAP.  VIL 

of  the  Bible  Society,*  the  Protestant  Union,  and  others, 
with  a  similar  object ;  but  to  the  last  he  held  to  the  great 
object  of  his  life,  —  the  abolition  of  slavery.  To  carry 
on  this  work,  and  organize  the  efforts  of  the  growing 
friends  of  this  cause,  the  Society  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery  was  founded,  and  new  men,  inspired  by  Sharp's 
example  and  zeal,  sprang  forward  to  help  him.  His 
energy  became  theirs,  and  the  self-sacrificing  zeal  in 
which  he  had  so  long  labored  single-handed,  became 
at  length  transfused  into  the  nation  itself.  His  man- 
tle fell  upon  Clarkson,  upon  Wilberforce,  upon  Brough- 
am, and  upon  Buxton,  who  labored  as  he  had  done, 
with  like  energy  and  steadfastness  of  purpose,  until  at 
length  slavery  was  abolished  throughout  the  British 
dominions.  But  though  the  names  last  mentioned  may 
be  more  frequently  identified  with  the  triumph  of  this 
great  cause,  the  chief  merit  unquestionably  belongs  to 
Granville  Sharp.  He  was  encouraged  by  none  of  the 
world's  huzzas  when  he  entered  upon  his  work.  He 
stood  alone,  opposed  to  the  opinion  of  the  ablest  lawyers, 
and  the  most  rooted  prejudices  of  the  times ;  and  alone 
he  fought  out,  by  his  single  exertions,  and  at  his  in- 
dividual expense,  the  most  memorable  battle  for  the  con- 
stitution of  this  country  and  the  liberties  of  British  sub- 
jects, of  which  modern  times  afford  a  record.  What 

*  A  clergyman  once  wrote  to  him,  at  the  early  part  of  his  life, 
while  clerk  in  the  Ordnance  Office,  urging  him  to  enter  the  Church, 
and  offering  to  resign  in  his  favor  a  living  worth  300/.  a  year.  The 
generous  offer  was  declined  with  thanks,  Mr.  Sharp  explaining  that 
he  had  not  the  least  inclination  for  the  employment  of  a  minister; 
and  even  if  he  could  flatter  himself  that  he  was  at  all  capable  of 
serving  the  cause  of  religion,  he  was  of  opinion  that  he  could  do  so 
much  more  effectually  as  a  layman  thaij  as  a  clergyman,  as  his 
motives  then  would  be  beyond  question. 


CHAP.  VII.  THOMAS  CLARKSON.  247 

followed  was  mainly  the  consequence  of  his  indefatigable 
constancy.  He  lighted  the  torch  which  kindled  other 
minds,  and  it  was  handed  on  until  the  illumination  be- 
came complete. 

Before  the  death  of  Granville  Sharp,  Clarkson  had 
already  turned  his  attention  to  the  question  of  Negro 
Slavery.  He  had  even  selected  it  for  the  subject  of  9 
college  Essay ;  and  his  mind  became  so  possessed  by 
it  that  he  could  not  shake  it  off.  The  spot  is  pointed 
out  near  Wade's  Mill,  in  Hertfordshire,  where,  alighting 
from  his  horse  one  day,  he  sat  down  disconsolate  on  the 
turf  by  the  roadside,  and  after  long  thinking,  determined 
to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  work.  He  translated  his 
Essay  from  Latin  into  English,  added  fresh  illustrations 
and  published  it.  Then  fellow-laborers  gathered  round 
him.  The  Society  for  Abolishing  the  Slave-Trade,  un- 
known to  him,  had  already  been  formed,  and  when  he 
heard  of  it  he  joined  it.  He  sacrificed  all  his  fair  pros- 
pects in  life  to  prosecute  this  cause.  Wilberforce  was 
selected  to  lead  in  Parliament ;  but  upon  Clarkson  chiefly 
devolved  the  labor  of  collecting  and  arranging  the  im- 
mense mass  of  evidence  offered  in  support  of  the  aboli- 
tion. A  curious  instance  of  Clarkson's  sluth-hound  sort 
of  perseverance  may  be  mentioned.  The  abettors  of 
slavery,  in  the  course  of  their  defence  of  the  system, 
maintained  that  only  such  negroes  as  were  captured  in 
battle  were  sold  as  slaves,  and  if  not  so  sold,  then  they 
were  reserved  for  a  still  more  frightful  doom  in  their  own 
country.  Clarkson  knew  of  the  slave-hunts  conducted 
by  the  slave-traders,  but  had  no  witnesses  to  prove  it. 
Where  was  one  to  be  found  ?  Accidentally,  a  gentleman, 
whom  he  met  on  one  of  his  journeys,  informed  him  of  a 
young  sailor,  in  whose  company  he  had  been  about  a  year 


248  CLARKSON'S  IMMENSE  LABOKS.        CHAP.  VII. 

before,  who  had  been  actually  engaged  in  one  of  such 
slave-hunting  expeditions.  The  gentleman  did  not  know 
his  name,  and  could  but  indefinitely  describe  his  person. 
He  did  not  know  where  he  was,  further  than  that  he 
belonged  to  a  ship-of-war  in  ordinary,  but  at  what  port 
he  could  not  tell.  With  this  mere  glimmering  of  infor- 
mation, Clarkson  determined  to  produce  this  man  as  a 
witness.  He  visited  personally  all  the  seaport  towns 
where  ships  in  ordinary  lay ;  boarded  and  examined 
every  ship  without  success,  until  he  came  to  the  very 
last  port,  and  found  the  young  man,  his  prize,  in  the  very 
last  ship  that  remained  to  be  visited.  The  young  man 
proved  to  be  one  of  his  most  valuable  and  effective  wit- 
nesses. 

For  some  years  he  conducted  a  correspondence  with 
upwards  of  four  hundred  persons,  travelling  more  than 
thirty-five  thousand  miles  during  the  same  time  in  search 
of  evidence.  He  was  at  length  disabled  and  exhausted 
by  illness,  brought  on  by  his  continuous  exertions ;  but 
he  was  not  borne  from  the  field  until  his  zeal  had  fully 
awakened  the  public  mind,  and  excited  the  ardent  sympa- 
thies of  all  good  men  on  behalf  of  the  slave. 

After  years  of  protracted  struggle,  the  slave-trade  was 
abolished.  But  still  another  great  achievement  remained 
to  be  accomplished,  —  the  abolition  of  slavery  itself 
throughout  the  British  dominions.  And  here  again  de- 
termined energy  won  the  day.  Of  the  leaders  in  the 
cause,  none  was  more  distinguished  than  Fowell  Buxton, 
who  took  the  position  formerly  occupied  by  Wilberforce 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  Buxton  was  a  dull,  heavy 
boy,  distinguished  for  his  strong  self-will,  which  first  ex- 
hibited itself  in  violent,  domineering,  and  headstrong 
obstinacy.  His  father  died  when  he  was  a  child;  bu* 


CHAP.  VII.  FOWELL  BUXTON,  -  FORCE  OF  WILL.    249 

fortunately  he  had  a  wise  mother  who  trained  his  will 
with  great  care,  constraining  him  to  obey,  but  encour- 
aging the  habit  of  deciding  and  acting  for  himself  in 
matters  which  might  safely  be  left  to  him.  This  mother 
believed  that  a  strong  will,  directed  upon  worthy  objects, 
was  a  valuable  manly  quality  if  properly  guided,  and  she 
acted  accordingly.  When  others  about  her  commented 
on  the  boy's  self-will,  she  would  merely  say,  "  Never 
mind,  —  he  is  self-willed  now,  —  you  will  see  it  will  turn 
out  well  in  the  end."  Fowell  learned  very  little  at  school, 
and  was  somewhat  of  a  dunce  and  an  idler.  He  got 
other  boys  to  do  his  exercises  for  him,  while  he  romped 
and  scrambled  about.  He  returned  home  at  fifteen,  a 
great,  growing,  awkward  lad,  fond  only  of  boating,  shoot- 
ing, riding,  and  field-sports,  —  spending  his  time  princi- 
pally with  the  gamekeeper,  a  man  possessed  of  a  good 
heart,  and  an  intelligent  observer  of  life  and  nature, 
though  he  could  neither  read  nor  write.  Buxton  had 
capital  raw  material  in  him,  but  he  wanted  culture,  train- 
ing, and  development.  At  this  juncture  of  his  life,  when 
his  habits  were  being  formed  for  good  or  evil,  he  was 
happily  thrown  into  the  society  of  the  Gurney  family, 
distinguished  for  their  fine  social  qualities,  not  less  than, 
for  their  intellectual  culture  and  public-spirited  philan- 
thropy. This  intercourse  with  the  Gurneys,  he  used 
afterwards  to  say,  gave  the  coloring  to  his  life.  They  en- 
couraged his  efforts  at  self-culture  ;  and  when  he  went  to 
the  University  of  Dublin,  and  gained  high  honors  there, 
the  animating  passion  in  his  mind,  he  said,  "was  to  carry 
back  to  them  the  prizes  which  they  prompted  and  ena- 
bled me  to  win."  He  married  one  of  the  daughters 
of  the  family,  and  started  in  life,  commencing  as  a  clerk 
o  his  uncles  Hanbury,  the  London  brewers.  His  power 


250   FOWELL  BUXTON  AND  THE  GURNETS.  CHAP.  VII. 

of  will,  which  made  him  so  difficult  to  deal  with  as  a  boy, 
now  formed  the  backbone  of  his  character,  and  made  him 
most  indefatigable  and  energetic  in  whatever  he  under- 
took. He  threw  his  whole  strength  and  bulk  right  down 
upon  his  work  ;  and  the  great  giant,  "  Elephant  Buxton," 
they  called  him,  for  he  stood  some  six  feet  four  in  height, 
became  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  practical  of  men. 
"  I  could  brew,"  he  said,  "  one  hour,  —  do  mathematics 
the  next,  —  and  shoot  the  next,  —  and  each  with  my 
whole  soul."  There  was  invincible  energy  and  deter- 
mination in  whatever  he  did.  Admitted  a  partner,  he 
became  the  active  manager  of  the  concern ;  and  the  vast 
business  which  he  conducted  felt  his  influence  through 
every  fibre,  and  prospered  far  beyond  its  previous  suc- 
cess. Nor  did  he  allow  his  mind  to  lie  fallow,  for  he 
gave  his  evenings  diligently  to  self-culture,  studying  and 
digesting  Blackstone,  Montesquieu,  and  solid  commen- 
taries on  English  law.  His  maxims  in  reading  were, 
"  never  to  begin  a  book  without  finishing  it ; "  "  never 
to  consider  a  book  finished  until  it  is  mastered ; "  and  "  to 
study  everything  with  the  whole  mind." 

When  only  thirty-two,  Buxton  entered  Parliament,  and 
at  once  assumed  that  position  of  influence  there,  of  which 
every  honest,  earnest,  well-informed  man  is  secure,  who 
enters  that  assembly  of  the  first  gentlemen  in  the  world. 
The  principal  question  to  which  he  devoted  himself  was 
the  complete  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  British  colo- 
nies. He  himself  used  to  attribute  the  strong  interest 
which  he  early  felt  in  this  question  to  the  influence  of 
Priscilla  Gurney,  one  of  the  Earlham  family,  —  a  woman 
of  a  fine  intellect  and  warm  heart,  abounding  in  illustrious 
virtues.  When  on  her  death-bed,  in  1821,  she  repeatedly 
sent  for  Buxton,  and  urged  him  "  to  make  the  cause 


CHAP.  VIL         INVINCIBLE  DETERMINATION.  251 

of  the  slaves  the  great  object  of  his  life."  Her  last 
act  was  to  attempt  to  reiterate  the  solemn  charge,  and 
she  expired  in  the  ineffectual  effort.  Buxton  never  for- 
got her  counsel ;  he  named  one  of  his  daughters  after 
her ;  and  on  the  day  on  which  she  was  married  frcm 
his  house,  on  the  1st  of  August,  1834, — the  day  of 
negro  emancipation,  —  after  his  Priscilla  had  been  man* 
umitted  from  her  filial  service,  and  left  her  father's  home 
in  the  company  of  her  husband,  Buxton  sat  down  and 
thus  wrote  to  a  friend  :  "  The  bride  is  just  gone  ;  every- 
thing has  passed  off  to  admiration ;  and  there  is  not  a 
slave  in  the  British  colonies  !  " 

Buxton  was  no  genius,  —  not  a  great  intellectual  leader 
nor  discoverer,  but  mainly  an  earnest,  straightforward, 
resolute,  energetic  man.  Indeed,  his  whole  character  is 
most  forcibly  expressed  in  his  own  words,  which  every 
young  man  might  well  stamp  upon  his  soul :  "  The  longer 
I  live,"  said  he,  "the  more  I  am  certain  that  the  great 
difference  between  men,  between  the  feeble  and  the 
powerful,  the  great  and  the  insignificant,  is  energy,  —  in- 
vincible determination,  —  a  purpose  once  fixed,  and  then 
death  or  victory !  That  quality  will  do  anything  that 
can  be  done  in  this  world;  and  no  talents,  no  circum- 
stances, no  opportunities,  will  make  a  two-legged  creatiie 
a  man  without  it." 


252  A  NARROW-MINDED  DEFINITION.    CHAP.  VIII. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

BUSINESS    QUALITIES. 

"  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?  he  shall  stand  before 
— -  Proverbs  of  Solomon. 

"  That  man  is  but  of  the  lower  part  of  the  world  that  is  not  brought  up  to 
business  and  affairs."  —  Owen  Feltham. 

HAZLITT,  in  one  of  his  clever  essays,*  represents  the 
man  of  business  as  a  mean  sort  of  person  put  in  a  go-cart, 
yoked  to  a  trade  or  profession  ;  alleging  that  all  he  has 
to  do  is,  not  to  go  out  of  the  beaten  track,  but  merely  to 
let  his  affairs  take  their  own  course.  "  The  great  requi- 
site," he  says,  "  for  the  prosperous  management  of  ordi- 
nary business  is  the  want  of  imagination,  or  of  any  ideas 
but  those  of  custom  and  interest  on  the  narrowest  scale." 
But  nothing  could  be  more  one-sided,  and  in  effect  un- 
true, than  such  a  definition.  Of  course,  there  are  narrow- 
minded  men  of  business,  as  there  are  narrow-minded 
scientific  men,  literary  men,  and  legislators  ;  but  there  are 
also  business  men  of  large  and  comprehensive  minds, 
capable  of  action  on  the  very  largest  scale.  As  Burke 
said  in  his  speech  on  the  India  Bill,  he  knew  statesmen 
who  were  peddlers,  and  merchants  who  acted  in  the  spirit 
of  statesmen. 

If  we  take  into  account  the  qualities  necessary  for  the 
successful  conduct  of  any  important  undertaking,  —  that 
it  requires  special  aptitude,  promptitude  of  action  on 
*  "  On  Thoufiht  and  Action." 


CHAP.  VIII.    MEN  OF  GENIUS  MEN  OF  BUSINESS.          253 

emergencies,  capacity  for  organizing  the  labors  often  of 
large  numbers  of  men,  great  tact  and  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  constant  self-culture,  and  growing  experi- 
ence in  the  practical  affairs  of  life,  —  it  must,  we  think, 
be  obvious  that  the  school  of  business  is  by  no  means  so 
narrow  as  some  writers  would  have  us  believe.  Mr. 
Helps  has  gone  much  nearer  the  truth  when  he  said  that 
consummate  men  of  business  are  as  rare  almost  as  great 
poets,  —  rarer,  perhaps,  than  veritable  saints  and  martyrs. 
Indeed,  of  no  other  pursuit  can  it  so  emphatically  be  said, 
as  of  this,  that  "  Business  makes  Men." 

But  it  has  also  been  a  favorite  fallacy  with  dunces  in 
all  times,  that  men  of  genius  are  unfitted  for  business 
pursuits.  Yet  Shakspeare  was  a  successful  manager  of 
a  theatre,  —  perhaps  priding  himself  more  upon  his  prac- 
tical qualities  in  that  capacity  than  on  his  writing  of 
plays  and  poetry.  Pope  was  of  opinion  that  Shakspeare's 
principal  object  in  cultivating  literature  was  to  secure  an 
honest  independence.  Indeed  he  seems  to  have  been 
altogether  indifferent  to  literary  reputation.  It  is  not 
known  that  he  superintended  the  publication  of  a  single 
play,  or  even  sanctioned  the  printing  of  one ;  and  the 
chronology  of  his  writings  is  still  a  mystery.  It  is  cer- 
tain, however,  that  he  prospered  in  his  business,  and 
realized  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  retire  upon  a  com- 
petency to  his  native  town  of  Stratford-upon-Avon. 

Chaucer  was  in  early  life  a  soldier,  and  afterwards  an 
effective  Commissioner  of  Customs,  and  Inspector  of 
Woods  and  Crown  Lands.  Spenser  was  Secretary  to 
the  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
very  shrewd  and  attentive  in  matters  of  business.  Milton, 
originally  a  schoolmaster,  was  afterwards  elevated  to  tho 
post  of  Secretary  to  the  Council  of  State  during  the  Com- 


254          MEN  OF  GENIUS  MEN  OF  BUSINESS.    CHAP.  VIII. 

monwealth ;  and  the  extant  Order-book  of  the  Council, 
as  well  as  many  of  Milton's  letters  which  are  preserved, 
give  abundant  evidence  of  his  activity  and  usefulness  in 
that  office.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  proved  himself  a  most 
efficient  Master  of  the  Mint ;  the  new  coinage  of  1694 
having  been  carried  on  under  his  immediate  personal  su- 
perintendence. Cowper  prided  himself  upon  his  business 
punctuality,  though  he  confessed  that  he  "  never  knew  a 
poet  except  himself,  who  was  punctual  in  anything."  But 
against  this  we  may  set  the  lives  of  Wordsworth  and 
Scott,  —  the  former  a  distributor  of  stamps,  the  latter  a 
clerk  to  the  Court  of  Session,  —  both  of  whom,  though 
great  poets,  were  eminently  punctual  and  practical  men 
of  business.  David  Ricardo,  amidst  the  occupations  of 
his  daily  business  as  a  London  stock-jobber,  in  conduct- 
ing which  he  acquired  an  ample  fortune,  was  able  to 
concentrate  his  mind  upon  his  favorite  subject,  —  on 
which  he  was  enabled  to  throw  great  light,  —  the  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy ;  for  he  united  in  himself  the 
sagacious  commercial  man  and  the  profound  philosopher. 
We  have  abundant  illustrations,  even  in  our  own  day, 
of  the  fact  that  the  highest  intellectual  power  is  not 
incompatible  with  the  active  and  efficient  performance 
of  routine  duties.  Grote,  the  great  historian  of  Greece, 
is  a  London  banker.  And  it  is  not  long  since  John 
Stuart  Mill,  one  of  our  greatest  living  thinkers,  retired 
from  the  Examiner's  department  of  the  East  India 
Company,  carrying  with  him  the  admiration  and  esteem 
of  his  fellow-officers,  not  on  account  of  his  high  views  of 
philosophy,  but  because  of  the  high  standard  of  effi- 
ciency which  he  had  established  in  his  office,  and  thjs 
thoroughly  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  had  con- 
ducted the  business  of  his  department.  „ 


CHAP.  VIII.    INDUSTRY  THE  PKICE  OF  SUCCESS.          255 

The  path  of  success  in  business  is  invariably  the  path 
of  common  sense.  Notwithstanding  all  that  is  said  about 
"  lucky  hits,"  the  best  kind  of  success  in  every  man's  life 
is  not  that  which  comes  by  accident.  The  only  "  good 
time  coming  "  we  are  justified  in  hoping  for,  is  that  which 
we  are  capable  of  making  for  ourselves.  The  fable  of 
the  labors  of  Hercules  is  indeed  the  type  of  all  human 
doing  and  success.  Every  youth  should  early  be  made 
to  feel  that  if  he  would  get  through  the  world  usefully 
and  happily,  he  must  rely  mainly  upon  himself  and  his 
own  independent  energies.  The  late  Lord  Melbourne 
embodied  a  piece  of  useful  advice  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  Lord  John  Russell,  in  reply  to  an  application 
for  a  provision  for  one  of  Moore  the  poet's  sons :  "  My 
dear  John,"  he  said.  "  I  return  you  Moore's  letter.  I 
shall  be  ready  to  do  what  you  like  about  it  when  we  have 
the  means.  I  think  whatever  is  done  should  be  done  for 
Moore  himself.  This  is  more  distinct,  direct,  and  intel- 
ligible. Making  a  small  provision  for  young  men  is 
hardly  justifiable ;  and  it  is  of  all  things  the  most  preju- 
dicial to  themselves.  They  think  what  they  have  much 
larger  than  it  really  is ;  and  they  make  no  exertion. 
The  young  should  never  hear  any  language  but  this: 
'  You  have  your  own  way  to  make,  and  it  depends  upon 
your  own  exertions  whether  you  starve  or  not.'  Believe 
me,  &c.,  MELBOURNE." 

It  is  not  good  for  human  nature  to  have  the  road  of 
life  made  too  easy.  Better  to  be  under  the  necessity  of 
working  hard  and  faring  meanly,  than  to  have  everything 
done  ready  to  our  hand,  and  a  pillow  of  down  to  repose 
fcipon.  Indeed,  to  start  in  life  with  comparatively  small 
means  seems  so  necessary  as  a  stimulus  to  work,  that  it 
may  almost  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  conditions  essential 


256         NECESSITY  FOE  LABOR  A  BLESSING.    CHAP.  VIII. 

to  success  in  life.  Hence,  an  eminent  judge,  when  asked 
what  contributed  most  to  success  at  the  bar,  replied, 
"  Some  succeed  by  great  talent,  some  by  high  connections, 
some  by  miracle,  but  the  majority  by  commencing  with- 
out a  shilling."  So  is  it  a  common  saying  at  Manchester, 
that  the  men  who  are  the  most  successful  in  business 
there  are  those  who  begin  the  world  in  their  shirt-sleeves ; 
whereas  those  who  begin  with  fortunes  generally  lose 
them. 

We  have  heard  of  an  architect  of  considerable  accom- 
plishments, —  a  man  who  had  improved  himself  by  long 
study,  and  travel  in  the  classical  lands  of  the  East,  — 
who  came  home  to  commence  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. He  determined  to  begin  anywhere,  provided  he 
could  be  employed ;  and  he  accordingly  undertook  a 
business  connected  with  dilapidations,  —  one  of  the  low- 
est and  least  remunerative  departments  of  the  architect's 
calling.  But  he  had  the  good  sense  not  to  be  above  his 
trade,  and  he  had  the  resolution  to  work  his  way  upward, 
so  that  he  only  got  a  fair  start.  One  hot  day  in  July  a 
friend  found  him  sitting  astride  of  a  house  roof  occupied 
with  his  dilapidation  business.  Drawing  his  hand  across 
his  perspiring  countenance,  he  exclaimed,  "  Here's  a 
pretty  business  for  a  man  who  has  been  all  over 
Greece ! "  However,  he  did  his  work,  such  as  it  was, 
thoroughly  and  well ;  he  persevered  until  he  advanced 
by  degrees  to  more  remunerative  branches  of  employ- 
ment, and  eventually  he  rose  to  the  highest  walks  of  his 
profession. 

Necessity  is  always  the  first  stimulus  to  industry ; 
and  those  who  conduct  it  with  prudence,  perseverance, 
and  energy,  will  rarely  fail.  Viewed  in  this  light,  the 
necessity  of  labor  is  not  a  chastisement,  but  a  blessing,  — 


CHAP.  VIII.        DEFINITION  Oi    MISFORTUNE.  257 

the  very  root  and  spring  of  all  that  we  call  progress  in 
individuals,  and  civilization  in  nations.  It  may,  indeed, 
be  questioned  whether  a  heavier  curse  could  be  imposed 
on  man  than  the  complete  gratification  of  all  his  wishes 
without  effort  on  his  part,  leaving  nothing  for  his  hopes, 
desires,  or  struggles.  The  feeling  that  life  is  destitute  of 
any  motive  or  necessity  for  action,  must  be  of  all  others 
the  most  distressing  and  the  most  insupportable  to  a  ra- 
tional being.  The  Marquis  de  Spinola  asking  Sir  Hor- 
ace Vere  what  his  brother  died  of,  Sir  Horace  replied, 
"  He  died,  sir,  of  having  nothing  to  do."  "  Alas  ! "  said 
Spinola,  "  that  is  enough  to  kill  any  general  of  us  all." 

Those  who  fail  in  life  are  very  apt  to  assume  the  tone 
of  injured  innocence,  and  conclude  too  hastily  that  every- 
body excepting  themselves  has  had  a  hand  in  their  per- 
sonal misfortunes.  A  literary  man  lately  published  a 
book,  in  which  he  described  his  numerous  failures  in 
business,  naively  admitting,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  the  multiplication  table,  probably  because  he 
would  not  take  the  trouble  to  learn  it.  But,  instead  of 
attributing  his  failures  to  himself,  this  eminent  man  sat 
down  deliberately  to  cast  all  the  blame  upon  the  money- 
worshipping  spirit  of  the  age.  Lamartine  also  did  not 
hesitate  to  profess  his  profound  contempt  for  arithmetic 
but,  had  it  been  less,  probably  we  should  not  have  wit- 
nessed the  unseemly  spectacle  of  the  admirers  of  that 
distinguished  personage  engaged  in  collecting  subscrip- 
tions for  his  support  in  his  old  age, 

There  is  a  Russian  proverb  which  says  that  Misfortune 
is  next  door  to  Stupidity ;  and  it  will  generally  be  found 
that  men  who  are  constantly  lamenting  their  ill-luck,  are 
only  reaping  the  consequences  of  their  own  neglect,  mis- 
management, improvidence,  or  want  of  application.  Dr 


258  DEFINITION  OF  BUSINESS.  CHAP.  VIII. 

Johnson,  who  came  up  to  London  with  a  single  guinea  in 
his  pocket,  and  who  once  accurately  described  himself  in 
his  signature  to  a  letter  addressed  to  a  noble  lord,  as  Im- 
pransus,  or  Dinnerless,  has  honestly  said,  "  All  the  com- 
plaints which  are  made  of  the  world  are  unjust ;  I  never 
knew  a  man  of  merit  neglected ;  it  was  generally  by  his 
own  fault  that  he  failed  of  success." 

The  dictionary  definition  of  Business  shows  how  large 
a  part  of  practical  life  arranges  itself  under  this  head.  It 
is  "  Employment ;  an  affair  ;  serious  engagement ;  some- 
thing to  be  transacted ;  something  required  to  be  done." 
Every  human  being  has  duties  to  be  performed,  and, 
therefore,  has  need  of  cultivating  the  capacity  for  doing 
them ;  whether  the  sphere  of  action  be  the  management 
of  a  household,  the  conduct  of  a  trade  or  profession,  or 
the  government  of  a  nation. 

Attention,  application,  accuracy,  method,  punctuality, 
and  dispatch,  are  the  principal  qualities  required  for  the 
efficient  conduct  of  business  of  any  sort.  These,  at  first 
sight,  may  appear  to  be  small  matters  ;  and  yet  they  are 
of  essential  importance  to  human  happiness,  well-being, 
and  usefulness.  They  are  little  things,  it  is  true;  but 
human  life  is  made  up  of  comparative  trifles.  It  is  the 
repetition  of  little  acts  which  constitute  not  only  the  sum 
of  human  character,  but  which  determine  the  character 
of  nations.  And  where  men  or  nations  have  broken 
down,  it  will  almost  invariably  be  found  that  neglect  of 
little  things  was  the  rock  on  which  they  split. 

It  is  related  of  a  well-known  Manchester  manufacturer, 
that,  on  retiring  from  business,  he  purchased  a  large  estate 
from  a  noble  lord ;  and  it  was  part  of  the  arrangement, 
that  he  was  to  take  the  house,  with  all  its  furniture,  pre- 
cisely as  it  stood.  On  taking  possession,  however,  he 


CHAP.  VIII.    ATTENTION  TO  SMALL  MATTERS.  250 

found  that  a  cabinet,  which  was  in  the  inventory,  had 
been  removed ;  and  on  applying  to  the  former  owner 
about  it,  the  latter  said,  "  Well,  I  certainly  did  order  it  to 
be  removed ;  but  I  hardly  thought  you  would  have  cared 
for  so  trifling  a  matter  in  so  large  a  purchase."  "My 
lord,"  was  the  characteristic  reply,  "  if  I  had  not  all  my 
life  attended  to  trifles,  I  should  not  have  been  able  to  pur- 
chase this  estate ;  and,  excuse  me  for  saying  so,  perhaps 
if  your  lordship  had  cared  more  about  trifles,  you  might 
not  have  had  occasion  to  sell  it." 

The  examples  we  have  already  given  of  great  workers 
in  various  branches  of  industry,  art,  and  science,  render 
it  unnecessary  further  to  enforce  the  importance  of  per- 
severing application  in  any  department  of  life.  It  is  the 
result  of  e very-day  experience,  that  steady  attention  to 
matters  of  detail  lies  at  the  root  of  human  progress  ;  and 
that  diligence,  above  all,  is  the  mother  of  good-luck. 
Accuracy  is  also  of  much  importance,  and  an  invariable 
mark  of  good  training  in  a  man.  Accuracy  in  observa- 
tion, accuracy  in  speech,  accuracy  in  the  transaction  of 
affairs.  What  is  done  in  business  must  be  well  done ; 
for  it  is  better  to  accomplish  perfectly  a  small  amount  of 
work,  than  to  half-do  ten  times  as  much.  A  wise  man 
used  to  say,  "  Stay  a  little,  that  we  may  make  an  end  the 
sooner." 

Too  little  attention,  however,  is  paid  to  this  highly  im- 
portant quality  of  accuracy.  As  a  man  eminent  in  prac- 
tical science  lately  observed  to  us,  "  It  is  astonishing  how 
few  people  I  have  met  with  in  the  course  of  my  experi- 
ence, who  can  define  a  fact  accurately."  Yet,  in  business 
affairs,  it  is  the  manner  in  which  even  small  matters  are 
transacted,  that  often  decides  men  for  or  against  you. 
With  virtue,  capacity,  and  good  conduct  in  other  respects, 


260  ACCURACY.  CHAP.  VHL 

the  person  who  is  habitually  inaccurate  cannot  be  trusted  •, 
his  work  has  to  be  gone  over  again ;  and  he  thus  causes 
an  infinity  of  annoyance,  vexation,  and  trouble.  Truer 
words  were  never  uttered  than  those  spoken  by  Mr.  Dar- 
gan,  the  Irish  railway  contractor,  at  a  public  meeting  in 
Dublin.  "  I  have  heard  a  great  deal,"  he  said,  "  about 
the  independence  that  we  were  to  get  from  this,  that,  and 
the  other  source;  yet  I  have  always  been  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction,  that  our  industrial  independ- 
ence depends  upon  ourselves.  Simple  industry  and 
careful  exactness  would  be  the  making  of  Ireland.  We 
have,  it  is  true,  made  a  step ;  but  perseverance  is  indis- 
pensably necessary  for  eventual  success." 

It  was  one  of  the  characteristic  qualities  of  Charles 
James  Fox,  that  he  was  thoroughly  painstaking  in  all 
that  he  did.  When  appointed  Secretary  of  State,  being 
piqued  at  some  observation  as  to  his  bad  writing,  he  ac- 
tually took  a  writing-master,  and  wrote  copies  like  a 
school-boy  until  he  had  sufficiently  improved  himself. 
Though  a  corpulent  man,  he  was  wonderfully  active  at 
picking  up  cut  tennis-balls,  and  when  asked  how  he  con- 
trived to  do  so,  he  playfully  replied,  "  Because  I  am  a 
very  pains-taking  man."  The  same  accuracy  in  trifling 
matters  was  displayed  by  him  in  things  of  greater  impor- 
tance ;  and  he  acquired  his  reputation,  like  the  painter, 
by  "  neglecting  nothing." 

Method  is  essential,  and  enables  a  larger  amount  of 
work  to  be  got  through  with  satisfaction.  "  Method," 
said  Cecil  (afterwards  Lord  Burleigh),  "is  like  packing 
things  in  a  box  ;  a  good  packer  will  get  in  half  as  much 
again  as  a  bad  one."  Cecil's  dispatch  of  business  was 
extraordinary,  his  maxim  being,  "  The  shortest  way  to 
do  many  things  is  to  do  only  one  thing  at  once ; "  and 


CHAP.  \III.  DISPATCH  OF  BUSINESS.  261 

he  never  left  a  thing  undone  with  a  view  of  recurring 
to  it  at  a  period  of  more  leisure.  When  business  pressed, 
he  rather  chose  to  encroach  on  his  hours  of  meals  and 
rest  than  omit  any  part  of  his  work.  De  Witt's  maxim 
was  like  Cecil's  :  "  One  thing  at  a  time."  "  If,"  said  he, 
"I  have  any  necessary  dispatches  to  make,  I  think  of 
nothing  else  till  they  are  finished;  if  any  domestic  af- 
fairs require  my  attention,  I  give  myself  wholly  up  to 
them  till  they  are  set  in  order."  Dispatch  comes  with 
practice.  A  French  minister,  who  was  alike  remarka- 
ble for  his  dispatch  of  business  and  his  constant  attend- 
ance at  places  of  amusement,  being  asked  how  he  con- 
trived to  combine  both  objects,  replied,  "  Simply  by 
never  postponing  till  to-morrow  what  should  be  done 
to-day."  Lord  Brougham  has  said  that'  a  certain  Eng- 
lish statesman  reversed  the  process,  and  that  his  maxim 
was,  never  to  transact  to-day  what  could  be  postponed 
till  to-morrow.  Unhappily,  such  is  the  practice  of  many 
besides  that  minister,  already  almost  forgotten  ;  the  prac- 
tice is  that  of  the  indolent  and  the  unsuccessful.  Such 
men,  too,  are  apt  to  rely  upon  agents,  who  are  not 
always  to  be  relied  upon.  Important  affairs  must  be 
attended  to  in  person.  "  If  you  want  your  business 
done,"  says  the  proverb,  "  go  and  do  it ;  if  you  don't 
want  it  done,  send  some  one  else."  An  indolent  coun- 
try gentleman  had  a  freehold  estate  producing  about 
Ive  hundred  a  year.  Becoming  involved  in  debt,  he 
.x>ld  half  of  the  estate,  and  let  the  remainder  to  an  in- 
dustrious farmer  for  twenty  years.  About  the  end  of 
the  term  the  farmer  called  to  pay  his  rent,  and  asked 
the  owner  whether  he  would  sell  the  farm.  "  Will  you 
buy  it  ?  "  asked  the  owner,  surprised.  "  Yes,  if  we  can 
agree  about  the  price."  "  That  is  exceedingly  strange,* 


262  PROMPTITUDE.  CHAP.  VIII. 

observed  the  gentleman  ;  "  pray,  tell  me  how  it  happens 
that,  while  I  could  not  live  upon  twice  as  much  land,  for 
which  I  paid  no  rent,  you  are  regularly  paying  me  two 
hundred  a  year  for  your  farm,  and  are  able,  in  a  few 
years,  to  purchase  it."  "The  reason  is  plain,"  was  the 
reply ;  "  you  sat  still,  and  said  Go ;  I  got  up,  and  said 
Come  ;  you  laid  in  bed  and  enjoyed  your  estate,  I  rose 
in  the  morning,  and  minded  my  business." 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  writing  to  a  youth  who  had  obtained 
a  situation  and  asked  him  for  his  advice,  gave  him  in  re- 
ply this  sound  counsel :  "  Beware  of  stumbling  over  a 
propensity  which  easily  besets  you  from  not  having  your 
time  fully  employed,  —  I  mean  what  the  women  call 
dawdling.  Your  motto  must  be,  Hoc  age.  Do  instantly 
whatever  is  to  be  done,  and  take  the  hours  of  recreation 
after  business,  never  before  it.  When  a  regiment  is 
under  march,  the  rear  is  often  thrown  into  confusion 
because  the  front  do  not  move  steadily,  and  without  in- 
terruption. It  is  the  same  with  business.  If  that  which 
is  first  in  hand  is  not  instantly,  steadily,  and  regularly 
dispatched,  other  things  accumulate  behind,  till  affairs 
begin  to  press  all  at  once,  and  no  human  brain  can 
stand  the  confusion." 

Promptitude  in  action  may  be  stimulated  by  a  due  con- 
sideration of  the  value  of  time.  An  Italian  philosopher 
was  accustomed  to  call  time  his  estate ;  an  estate  which 
produces  nothing  of  value  without  cultivation,  but,  duly 
improved,  never  fails  to  recompense  the  labors  of  the 
diligent  worker.  Allowed  to  lie  waste,  the  product  will 
be  only  noxious  weeds  and  vicious  growths  of  all  kinds. 
One  of  the  minor  uses  of  steady  employment  is,  that  it 
keeps  one  out  of  mischief,  for  truly  an  idle  brain  is  the 
devil's  workshop,  and  a  lazy  man  the  devil's  bolster.  To 


CHAP.  VIII.  ECONOMY  OF  TIME.  263 

be  occupied  is  to  be  possessed  as  by  a  tenant,  whereas 
to  be  idle  is  to  be  empty ;  and  when  the  doors  of  the 
imagination  are  opened,  temptation  finds  a  ready  access, 
and  evil  thoughts  come  trooping  in.  It  is  observed  at 
sea,  that  men  are  never  so  much  disposed  to  grumble 
and  mutiny  as  when  least  employed.  Hence  an  old 
captain,  when  there  was  nothing  else  to  do,  would  issue 
the  order  to  "scour  the  anchor." 

Men  of  business  are  accustomed  to  quote  the  maxim 
that  Time  is  money,  but  it  is  much  more ;  the  proper 
improvement  of  it  is  self-culture,  self-improvement,  and 
growth  of  character.  An  hour  wasted  daily  on  trifles 
or  in  indolence,  would,  if  devoted  to  self-improvement, 
make  an  ignorant  man  wise  in  a  few  years,  and,  em- 
ployed in  good  works,  would  make  his  life  fruitful,  and 
death  a  harvest  of  worthy  deeds.  Fifteen  minutes  a 
day  devoted  to  self-improvement,  will  be  felt  at  the  end 
of  the  year.  Good  thoughts  and  carefully  gathered  ex- 
perience take  up  no  room,  and  are  carried  about  with 
us  as  companions  everywhere,  without  cost  or  incum- 
brance.  An  economical  use  of  time  is  the  true  mode 
of  securing  leisure ;  it  enables  us  to  get  through  busi- 
ness and  carry  it  forward,  instead  of  being  driven  by  it. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  miscalculation  of  time  involves 
us  in  perpetual  hurry,  confusion,  and  difficulties  ;  and 
life  becomes  a  mere  shuffle  of  expedients,  usually  fol- 
lowed by  disaster.  Nelson  once  said,  "  I  owe  all  my 
success  in  life  to  having  been  always  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  my  time." 

Some  take  no  thought  of  the  value  of  money  until  they 
have  come  to  an  end  of  it,  and  many  do  the  same  with 
their  time.     The   hours  are  allowed  to  flow  by  unem 
ployed,  and  then,  when  life  is  fast  waning,  they  bethink 


264  PUNCTUALITY.  CHAP.  VIII. 

themselves  of  the  duty  of  making  a  wiser  use  of  it. 
But  the  habit  of  listlessness  and  idleness  may  already 
have  become  confirmed,  and  they  are  unable  to  break 
the  bonds  with  which  they  have  permitted  themselves 
to  become  bound.  Lost  wealth  may  be  replaced  by  in- 
dustry, lost  knowledge  by  study,  lost  health  by  temper- 
ance or  medicine,  but  lost  time  is  gone  forever. 

A  proper  consideration  of  the  value  of  time,  will  also 
inspire  habits  of  punctuality.  "  Punctuality,"  said  Louis 
XIV.,  "  is  the  politeness  of  kings."  It  is  also  the  duty 
of  gentlemen,  and  the  necessity  of  men  of  business. 
Nothing  begets  confidence  in  a  man  sooner  than  the 
practice  of  this  virtue,  and  nothing  shakes  confidence 
sooner  than  the  want  of  it.  He  who  holds  to  his  ap- 
pointment and  does  not  keep  you  waiting  for  him,  shows 
that  he  has  regard  for  your  time  as  well  as  for  his  own. 
Thus  punctuality  is  one  of  the  modes  by  which  we  tes- 
tify our  personal  respect  for  those  whom  we  are  called 
upon  to  meet  in  the  business  of  life.  It  is  also  conscien- 
tiousness in  a  measure ;  for  an  appointment  is  a  contract, 
express  or  implied,  and  he  who  does  not  keep  it  breaks 
faith,  as  well  as  dishonestly  uses  other  people's  time, 
and  thus  inevitably  loses  character.  We  naturally  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  person  who  is  careless  about 
time,  will  be  careless  about  business,  and  that  he  is  not 
the  one  to  be  trusted  with  the  transaction  of  matters  of 
importance.  When  Washington's  secretary  excused  him- 
eelf  for  the  lateness  of  his  attendance,  and  laid  the  blame 
upon  his  watch,  his  master  quietly  said,  "  Then  you  must 
get  another  watch,  or  I  another  secretary." 

The  unpunctual  man  is  a  general  disturber  of  others' 
peace  and  serenity.  Everybody  with  whom  he  has  to 
do  is  thrown  from  time  to  time  into  a  state  of  fever ;  he 


CHAP.  VIII.  PUNCTUALITY.  265 

is  systematically  late  ;  regular  only  in  his  irregularity. 
He  conducts  his  dawdling  as  if  upon  a  system ;  always 
arrives  at  his  appointment  after  time ;  gets  to  the  railway 
station  after  the  train  has  started ;  and  posts  his  letter 
when  the  box  has  closed.  Business  is  thus  thrown  into 
confusion,  and  everybody  concerned  is  put  out  of  tem- 
per. It  will  generally  be  found  that  the  men  who  are 
thus  habitually  behind  time,  are  as  habitually  behind 
success  ;  and  the  world  generally  casts  them  aside  to 
swell  the  ranks  of  the  grumblers  and  the  railers  against 
fortune.  The  late  Mr.  Tegg,  the  publisher,  who  rose  from 
a  very  humble  position  in  life,  once  said  of  himself,  that 
he  "  had  lodged  with  beggars,  and  had  the  honor  of  pre- 
sentation to  royalty,"  and  that  he  attributed  his  success 
in  life  mainly  to  three  things,  —  punctuality  as  to  time, 
self-reliance,  and  integrity  in  word  and  deed. 

It  is  astonishing  how  much  an  energetic  man  of  busi- 
ness can  accomplish  by  methodical  working,  and  by  the 
careful  economy  of  his  time.  It  would  even  appear  as 
if,  the  more  business  he  had,  the  more  leisure  he  had  for 
other  affairs.  It  is  said  of  Lord  Brougham,  that  when 
he  was  in  the  full  career  of  his  profession,  presiding  in 
the  House  of  Lords  and  the  Court  of  Chancery,  he 
found  time  to  be  at  the  head  of  some  eight  or  ten 
public  associations,  —  one  of  which  was  the  Society  for 
the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  —  and  that  he  was 
most  punctual  in  his  attendances,  always  contriving  to  be 
in  the  chair  when  the  hour  of  meeting  had  arrived. 

In  addition  to  these  ordinary  working  qualities,  the 
business  man  of  the  highest  class  requires  sound  dis- 
cretion, quick  perception,  and  firmness  in  the  execution 
of  his  plans.  Business  tact  is  also  important;  and 
though  this  is  partly  the  gift  of  nature,  it  is  yet  capa- 


266  KOUTINE  AND  KED-TAPEISM.         CHAP.  VIII. 

ble  of  being  cultivated  and  developed  by  observation 
and  experience.  Men  of  this  quality  are  quick  to  see 
the  right  mode  of  action,  and  if  they  have  decision  of 
purpose,  are  prompt  to  carry  out  their  undertakings  to 
a  successful  issue.  Such  men  give  a  new  life  to  in- 
dustry; they  put  their  character  into  every  work  that 
they  enter  upon,  and  are  among  the  most  powerful 
agents  in  the  progress  of  society  in  all  times. 

It  will  be  observed  from  what  we  have  said  that  the 
successful  conduct  of  business  consists  in  a  great  meas- 
ure in  assiduous  attention  to  matters  of  detail,  in  short, 
to  what  is  ordinarily  called  Routine,  and  sometimes  Red- 
Tapeism.  Accuracy,  discipline,  punctuality,  method, 
payment  of  debts,  organization,  all  are  routine.  No 
doubt  a  blind,  stupid  routine  causes  hindrance  to  busi- 
ness, but  a  wise  routine  greatly  facilitates  it,  whilst  it 
is  the*  only  check  to  rashness  and  incapacity  on  the  part 
of  individuals,  where  the  business  of  large  departments 
has  to  be  conducted.  In  the  case  of  a  business  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  person,  such  as  that  of  a  merchant 
or  manufacturer,  there  will  be  greater  promptitude  in 
action,  and  less  need  for  the  interposition  of  checks, 
because  no  one  has  to  be  consulted  but  the  master 
himself;  and  he  is  stimulated  by  self-interest  to  watch 
closely  all  the  outgoings  and  incomings  of  his  concern. 
But  where  "self-interest  is  less  active,  and  where  a  large 
business,  as  of  a  corporation  or  a  government,  is  man- 
aged by  employes,  routine  necessarily  becomes  compli- 
cated by  checks  ;  for,  though  the  large  majority  of  men 
are  honest,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  provision  should 
be  made  against  the  possible  rogue  or  the  jobber. 

The  late  Duke  of  Wellington  was  a  great  routinist, 
because  he  was  a  first-rate  man  of  business.  He  pos- 


CHAP.  VIII.         THE  DUKE   OF  WELLINGTON.  2G7 

sessed  in  perfection  all  the  qualities  which  constitute  one. 
He  was  a  most  punctual  man ;  he  never  received  a  letter 
without  acknowledging  or  replying  to  it ;  and  he  habit- 
ually attended  to  the  minutest  details  of  all  matters  in- 
trusted to  him,  whether  civil  or  military.  His  business 
faculty  was  his  genius,  the  genius  of  common  sense ;  and 
it  is  not  perhaps  saying  too  much  to  aver,  that  it  was 
because  he  was  a  first-rate  man  of  business  that  he 
never  lost  a  battle. 

While  a  subaltern  officer,  he  became  dissatisfied  with 
the  slowness  of  his  promotion,  and  having  passed  from 
the  infantry  to  the  cavalry  twice,  and  back  again, 
without  advancement,  he  applied  to  Lord  Camden,  then 
Viceroy  of  Ireland,  for  employment  in  the  Revenue  or 
Treasury  Board.  Had  he  succeeded,  no  doubt  he  would 
have  made  a  first-rate  head  of  a  department,  as  he  would 
have  made  a  first-rate  merchant  or  manufacturer.  But 
his  application  failed,  and  he  remained  with  the  army  to 
become  one  of  the  very  greatest  of  British  generals. 

The  Duke  began  his  active  military  career  under  the 
Duke  of  York  and  General  Walmoden,  in  Flanders  and 
Holland,  where  he  learned  amidst  misfortunes  and  de- 
feats, how  bad  business  arrangements  and  bad  general- 
ship serve  to  ruin  the  morale  of  an  army.  Ten  years 
after  entering  the  army  we  find  him  a  colonel  in  India, 
reported  by  his  superiors  as  an  officer  of  indefatigable 
energy  and  application.  He  entered  into  the  minutest 
details  of  the  service,  and  sought  to  raise  the  discipline 
of  his  men  to  the  highest  standard.  "  The  regiment  of 
Colonel  Welles] ey,"  wrote  General  Harris  in  1799,  "is 
a  model  regiment;  on  the  score  of  soldierly  bearing, 
discipline,  instruction,  and  orderly  behavior  it  is  above 
all  praise."  Thus  qualifying  himself  for  posts  of  greater 


268  WELLINGTON  IN  INDIA.  CHAP.  VIII 

confidence,  he  was  shortly  after  nominated  governor  of 
the  capital  of  Mysore.  In  the  war  with  the  Mahrattas, 
he  was  first  called  upon  to  try  his  hand  at  generalship ; 
and  at  thirty-four  he  won  the  memorable  battle  of  As- 
saye,  with  an  army  composed  of  1,500  British  and  5,000 
sepoys,  over  20,000  Mahratta  infantry  and  30,000  cav- 
alry. But  so  brilliant  a  victory  did  not  in  the  least 
disturb  his  equanimity,  or  affect  the  perfect  honesty  of 
his  character. 

Shortly  after  this  event,  the  opportunity  occurred  for 
exhibiting  his  admirable  practical  qualities  as  an  admin- 
istrator. Placed  in  command  of  an  important  district 
immediately  after  the  capture  of  Seringapatam,  his  first 
object  was  to  establish  rigid  order  and  discipline  among 
his  own  men.  Flushed  with  victory,  the  troops  were 
found  riotous  and  disorderly.  "  Send  me  the  provost- 
marshal,"  said  he,  "  and  put  him  under  my  orders ;  till 
some  of  the  marauders  are  hung,  it  is  impossible  to 
expect  order  or  safety."  This  rigid  severity  of  Wel- 
lington in  the  field,  though  it  was  the  dread,  proved  the 
salvation  of  his  troops  in  many  campaigns.  His  next 
step  was  to  reestablish  the  markets  and  reopen  the 
sources  of  supply.  General  Harris  wrote  to  the  Gov 
ernor-General,  strongly  commending  Colonel  Wellesley 
for  the  perfect  discipline  he  had  established,  and  for 
his  "judicious  and  masterly  arrangements  in  respect  to 
supplies,  which  opened  an  abundant  free  market,  and 
inspired  confidence  into  dealers  of  every  description." 
The  same  close  attention  to,  and  mastery  of  details, 
characterized  him  throughout  his  Indian  career;  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  one  of  his  very  ablest  despatches  to 
Lord  Clive,  full  of  practical  information  as  to  the  con- 
duct of  the  campaign,  was  written  whilst  the  column  he 


CHAP.  VIII.        THE  DUKE   OF  WELLINGTON.  2G9 

commanded  was  crossing  the  Toombuddra,  in  the  faco 
of  the  vastly  superior  army  of  Doondiah,  posted  on  the 
opposite  bank,  and  when  a  thousand  matters  of  the  deep- 
est interest  were  pressing  upon  the  commander's  mind, 
But  it  was  one  of  his  most  remarkable  characteristics, 
thus  to  be  able  to  withdraw  himself  temporarily  from 
the  business  immediately  in  hand,  and  to  bend  his  full 
powers  upon  the  consideration  of  matters  totally  distinct ; 
even  the  most  difficult  circumstances  on  such  occasions 
failing  to  embarrass  or  intimidate  him. 

Returned  to  England  with  a  reputation  for  generalship, 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  met  with  immediate  employment. 
In  1808  a  corps  of  10,000  men  destined  to  liberate  Por- 
tugal was  placed  under  his  charge.  He  landed,  fought 
arid  won  two  battles,  and  signed  the  Convention  of  Cintra. 
After  the  death  of  Sir  John  Moore,  he  was  intrusted 
with  the  command  of  a  new  expedition  to  Portugal. 
Wellington  was  fearfully  overmatched  throughout  these 
Peninsular  campaigns.  From  1809  to  1813  he  never 
had  more  than  30,000  British  troops  under  his  command, 
at  a  time  when  there  stood  opposed  to  him  in  the  Penin- 
sula, some  350,000  French,  mostly  veterans,  led  by  some 
of  Napoleon's  ablest  generals.  How  was  he  to  contend 
against  such  immense  forces  with  any  fair  prospect  of 
success  ?  His  clear  discernment  and  strong  common 
sense  soon  taught  him  that  he  must  adopt  a  different 
policy  from  that  of  the  Spanish  generals,  who  were  in- 
variably beaten  and  dispersed  whenever  they  ventured 
to  offer  battle  in  the  open  plains.  He  perceived  he  had 
yet  to  create  the  army  that  was  to  contend  against  the 
French,  with  any  reasonable  chance  of  success. 

Accordingly,  after  the  battle  of  Talavera  in  1809, 
when  he  found  himself  encompassed  on  all  sides  by 


270  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON.         CHAP.  VIII. 

superior  forces  of  French,  he  retired  into  Portugal,  there 
to  carry  out  the  settled  policy  on  which  he  had  by  this 
time  determined.  It  was,  to  organize  a  Portuguese  army 
under  British  officers,  and  teach  them  to  act  in  combina- 
tion with  his  own  troops,  in  the  mean  time  avoiding  the 
peril  of  a  defeat  by  declining  all  engagements.  He 
would  thus,  he  conceived,  destroy  the  morale  of  the 
French,  who  could  not  exist  without  victories ;  and  when 
his  army  was  ripe  for  action,  and  the  enemy  demoralized, 
he  would  then  fall  upon  them  with  all  his  might. 

The  extraordinary  qualities  displayed  by  Lord  Wel- 
lington throughout  these  immortal  campaigns,  can  only  be 
appreciated  after  a  perusal  of  his  despatches,  which  con- 
tain the  unvarnished  tale  of  the  manifold  ways  and  means 
by  which  he  laid  the  foundations  of  his  success.  Never 
was  man  more  tried  by  difficulty  and  opposition,  arising 
not  less  from  the  imbecility,  falsehood,  and  intrigues  of 
the  British  government  of  the  day,  than  from  the  self- 
ishness, cowardice,  and  vanity  of  the  people  he  went  to 
save.  It  may,  indeed,  be  said  of  him,  that  he  sustained 
the  war  in  Spain  by  his  individual  firmness  and  self- 
reliance,  which  never  failed  him  even  in  the  midst  of  his 
greatest  discouragements.  He  had  not  only  to  fight 
Napoleon's  veterans,  but  also  to  hold  in  check  the  Span- 
ish juntas  and  the  Portuguese  regency.  He  had  the 
utmost  difficulty  in  obtaining  provisions  and  clothing  for 
his  troops  ;  and  it  will  scarcely  be  credited  that,  while 
engaged  with  the  enemy  in  the  battle  of  Talavera,  the 
Spaniards,  who  ran  away,  fell  upon  the  baggage  of  the 
British  army,  and  the  ruffians  actually  plundered  it! 
These  and  other  vexations  the  Duke  bore  with  a  sublime 
patience  and  self-control,  and  held  on  his  course,  in  the 
face  of  ingratitude,  treachery,  and  opposition,  with  in- 


CHAP.  VIII.        THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON.  271 

domitable  firmness.  He  neglected  nothing,  and  attended 
to  every  important  detail  of  business  himself.  When  he 
found  that  food  for  his  troops  was  not  to  be  obtained 
from  England,  and  that  he  must  rely  upon  his  own  re- 
sources for  feeding  them,  he  forthwith  commenced  busi- 
ness as  a  corn-merchant  on  a  large  scale,  in  copartnery 
with  the  British  Minister  at  Lisbon.  Commissariat  bills 
were  created,  with  which  grain  was  bought  in  the  ports 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  in  South  America.  When  he 
had  thus  filled  his  magazines,  the  overplus  was  sold  to 
the  Portuguese,  who  were  greatly  in  want  of  provisions. 
He  left  nothing  whatever  to  chance,  but  provided  for 
every  contingency.  He  gave  his  attention  to  the  minut- 
est details  of  the  service ;  and  was  accustomed  to  con- 
centrate his  whole  energies,  from  time  to  time,  on  such 
apparently  ignominious  matters  as  soldiers'  shoes,  camp- 
kettles,  biscuits,  and  horse-fodder.  His  magnificent  busi- 
ness qualities  were  everywhere  felt ;  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that,  by  the  care  with  which  he  provided  for 
ev3ry  contingency,  and  the  personal  attention  which  he 
gave  to  every  detail,  he  laid  the  foundations  of  his  great 
success.*  By  such  means  he  transformed  an  army  of 
raw  levies  into  the  best  soldiers  in  Europe,  with  whom 
he  declared  it  to  be  possible  to  go  anywhere  and  do  any- 
thing. 

We  have  already  referred  to  his  remarkable  power 
of  abstracting  himself  from  the  work,  no  matter  how 
engrossing,  immediately  in  hand,  and  concentrating  his 
energies  upon  the  details  of  some  entirely  different  busi- 

*  The  recently  published  correspondence  of  Napoleon  with  his 
orother  Joseph,  and  the  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Ragusa,  abundantly 
Confirm  this  view.  The  Duke  overthrew  Napoleon  by  the  superiority 
of  his  routine.  He  used  to  say  that,  if  he  knew  anything  at  all,  he 
tnew  how  to  feed  an  arn»v. 


272  THE  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON.         CiiAP.VIIL 

ness.  Thus  Napier  relates  that  it  was  while  he  was 
preparing  to  fight  the  battle  of  Salamanca  that  he  had 
to  expose  to  the  Ministers  at  home  the  futility  of  relying 
upon  a  loan ;  it  was  on  the  heights  of  San  Christoval, 
on  the  field  of  battle  itself,  that  he  demonstrated  the 
absurdity  of  attempting  to  establish  a  Portuguese  tank ; 
it  was  in  the  trenches  of  Burgos  that  he  dissected 
Funchal's  scheme  of  finance,  and  exposed  the  folly  of 
attempting  the  sale  of  church  property ;  and  on  each 
occasion,  he  showed  himself  as  well  acquainted  with 
these  subjects  as  with  the  minutest  detail  in  the  mech- 
anism of  armies. 

Another  feature  in  his  character,  showing  the  upright 
man  of  business,  was  his  thorough  honesty.  Whilst 
Soult  ransacked  and  carried  away  with  him  from  Spain 
numerous  pictures  of  great  value,  Wellington  did  not 
appropriate  to  himself  a  single  farthing's  worth  of  prop- 
erty. Everywhere  he  paid  his  way,  even  when  in  the 
enemy's  country.  When  he  had  crossed  the  French 
frontier,  followed  by  40,000  Spaniards,  who  sought  to 
"  make  fortunes "  by  pillage  and  plunder,  he  first  re- 
buked their  officers,  and  then,  finding  his  efforts  to 
restrain  them  unavailing,  he  sent  them  back  into  their 
own  country.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  even  in 
France,  the  peasantry  fled  from  their  own  countrymen, 
and  carried  their  valuables  within  the  protection  of  the 
British  lines  !  At  the  very  same  time,  Wellington  was 
writing  home  to  the  British  Ministry,  "  We  are  over- 
whelmed with  debts,  and  I  can  scarcely  stir  out  of  my 
house  on  account  of  public  creditors  waiting  to  demand 
payment  of  what  is  due  to  them."  Jules  Maurel,  in  his 
estimate  of  the  Duke's  character,  says,  "  Nothing  can 
be  grander  or  more  nobly  original  than  this  admission. 


CHAP.  VIII.    HONESTY  IS  THE  BEST  POLICY.  273 

This  old  soldier,  after  thirty  years'  service,  this  iron  man 
and  victorious  general,  established  in  an  enemy's  country 
at  the  head  of  an  immense  army,  is  afraid  of  his  credi 
tors !  This  is  a  kind  of  fear  that  has  seldom  troubled 
the  mind  of  conquerors  and  invaders ;  and  I  doubt  if  the 
annals  of  war  could  present  anything  comparable  to  this 
sublime  simplicity."  But  the  Duke  himself,  had  the 
matter  been  put  to  him,  would  most  probably  have  dis- 
claimed any  intention  of  acting  either  grandly  or  nobly 
in  the  matter;  merely  regarding  the  punctual  payment 
of  his  debts  as  the  best  and  most  honorable  mode  of  con- 
ducting his  business. 

The  truth  of  the  good  old  maxim,  that  "  Honesty  is  the 
best  policy,"  is  upheld  by  the  daily  experience  of  life ; 
uprightness  and  integrity  being  found  as  successful  in 
business  as  in  everything  else.  As  Hugh  Miller's  worthy 
uncle  used  to  advise  him,  "  In  all  your  dealings  give  your 
neighbor  the  cast  of  the  bauk,  —  'good  measure,  heaped 
up,  and  running  over,'  —  and  you  will  not  lose  by  it  in 
the  end."  A  well-known  brewer  of  beer  attributed  his 
success  to  the  liberality  with  which  he  used  his  malt. 
Going  up  to  the  vat  and  tasting  it,  he  would  say,  "  Still 
rather  poor,  my  lads ;  give  it  another  cast  of  the  malt." 
The  brewer  put  his  character  into  his  beer,  and  it  proved 
generous  accordingly,  obtaining  a  reputation  in  England, 
India,  and  the  colonies,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
large  fortune.  Integrity  of  word  and  deed  ought  to  be 
the  very  corner-stone  of  all  business  transactions.  To  the 
tradesman,  the  merchant,  and  manufacturer,  it  should  be 
what  honor  is  to  the  soldier,  and  charity  to  the  Christian. 
In  the  humblest  calling  there  will  always  be  found  scope 
tor  the  exercise  of  this  uprightness  of  character.  Hugh 
Miller  speaks  of  the  mason  with  whom  he  served  his  ap- 
12* 


274  INTEGEITY  IN  BUSINESS.  CHAP.  VIIL 

prenticeship,  as  one  who  "put  his  conscience  into  every 
stone  that  he  laid"  So  the  true  mechanic  will  pride 
himself  upon  the  thoroughness  and  solidity  of  his  work, 
and  the  high-minded  contractor  upon  the  honesty  of  per- 
formance of  his  contract  in  every  particular.  The  up- 
right manufacturer  will  find  not  only  honor  and  reputa- 
tion, but  substantial  success,  in  the  genuineness  of  the 
article  which  he  produces,  and  the  merchant  in  the 
honesty  of  what  he  sells,  and  that  it  really  is  what  it 
seems  to  be.  Baron  Dupin,  speaking  of  the  general 
probity  of  Englishmen,  which  he  held  to  be  a  principal 
cause  of  their  success,  observed,  "  "We  may  succeed  for  a 
time  by  fraud,  by  surprise,  by  violence  ;  but  we  can  suc- 
ceed permanently  only  by  means  directly  opposite.  It  is 
not  alone  the  courage,  the  intelligence,  the  activity,  of  the 
merchant  and  manufacturer  which  maintain  the  superior- 
ity of  their  productions  and  the  character  of  their  coun- 
try ;  it  is  far  more  their  wisdom,  their  economy,  and, 
above  all,  their  probity.  If  ever  in  the  British  Islands 
the  useful  citizen  should  lose  these  virtues,  we  may  be 
sure  that,  for  England,  as  for  every  other  country,  the 
vessels  of  a  degenerate  commerce,  repulsed  from  every 
shore,  would  speedily  disappear  from  those  seas  whose 
surface  they  now  cover  with  the  treasures  of  the  universe, 
bartered  for  the  treasures  of  the  industry  of  the  three 
kingdoms." 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  Trade  tries  character  perhaps 
more  severely  than  any  other  pursuit  in  life.  It  puts  to 
the  severest  tests  honesty,  self-denial,  justice,  and  truth- 
fulness; and  men  of  business  who  pass  through  such 
trials  unstained,  are  perhaps  worthy  of  as  great  honor  as 
soldiers  who  prove  their  courage  amidst  the  fire  and 
perils  of  battle.  And,  to  the  credit  of  the  multitudes  of 


CHAP.  VIII.          INTEGRITY  IN  BUSINESS.  275 

men  engaged  in  the  various  departments  of  trade,  we 
think  it  must  be  admitted  that  on  the  whole  they  pass 
through  their  trials  nobly.  If  we  reflect  but  for  a  mo- 
ment on  the  vast  amount  of  wealth  daily  intrusted  even 
to  subordinate  persons,  who  themselves  probably  earn 
but  a  bare  competency,  —  the  loose  cash  which  is  con- 
stantly passing  through  the  hands  of  shopmen,  agents, 
brokers,  and  clerks  in  banking  houses,  —  and  note  how 
comparatively  few  are  the  breaches  of  trust  which  occur 
amidst  all  this  temptation,  it  will  probably  be  admitted 
that  this  steady  daily  honesty  of  conduct  is  most  honor- 
able to  human  nature,  if  it  do  not  even  tempt  us  to  be 
proud  of  it.  The  same  trust  and  confidence  reposed  by 
men  of  business  in  each  other,  as  implied  by  the  system 
of  Credit,  which  is  mainly  based  upon  the  principle  of 
honor,  would  be  surprising  if  it  were  not  so  much  a  mat- 
ter of  ordinary  practice  in  business  transactions.  Dr. 
Chalmers  has  well  said,  that  the  implicit  trust  with  which 
merchants  are  accustomed  to  confide  in  distant  agents, 
separated  from  them  perhaps  by  half  the  globe,  —  often 
consigning  vast  wealth  to  persons,  recommended  only 
by  their  character,  whom  perhaps  they  never  saw,  —  is 
probably  the  finest  act  of  homage  which  men  can  render 
to  one  another. 

Although  common  honesty  is  still  happily  in  the 
ascendant  amongst  common  people,  and  the  general  busi- 
ness community  of  England  is  still  sound  at  heart,  put- 
ting their  honest  character  into  their  respective  callings, 
—  there  are  unhappily,  as*  there  have  been  in  all  times, 
but  too  many  instances  of  flagrant  dishonesty  and  fraud, 
exhibited  by  the  unscrupulous,  the  over-speculative,  and 
the  intensely  selfish,  in  their  haste  to  be  rich.  There 
ftre  tradesmen  who  adulterate,  contractors  who  "  scamp," 


276  DISHONEST  TRADERS.  CHAP.  VIII. 

manufacturers  who  give  us  shoddy  instead  of  wool, 
"dressing"  instead  of  cotton,  cast-iron  tools  instead  of 
steel,  needles  without  eyes,  razors  made  only  "to  sell," 
and  swindled  fabrics  in  many  shapes.  But  these  we 
must  hold  to  be  the  exceptional  cases,  of  low-minded  and 
grasping  men,  who,  though  they  may  gain  wealth  which 
they  probably  cannot  enjoy,  will  never  gain  an  honest 
character,  nor  secure  that  without  which  wealth  is  nothing, 
— a  satisfied  conscience.  "The  rogue  cozened  not  me, 
but  his  own  conscience,"  said  Bishop  Latimer  of  a  cutler 
who  made  him  pay  twopence  for  a  knife  not  worth  a 
penny.  Money,  earned  by  screwing,  cheating,  and  over- 
reaching, may  for  a  time  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the  unthink- 
ing; but  the  bubbles  blown  by  unscrupulous  rogues, 
when  full-blown,  usually  glitter  only  to  burst.  The  Sad- 
leirs,  Dean  Pauls,  and  Redpaths,  for  the  most  part,  come 
to  a  sad  end  even  in  this  world ;  and  though  the  success- 
ful swindles  of  others  may  not  be  "  found  out,"  and  the 
gains  of  their  roguery  may  remain  with  them,  it  will  be 
as  a  curse  and  not  as  a  blessing. 

It  is  possible  that  the  scrupulously  honest  man  may  not 
grow  rich  so  fast  as  the  unscrupulous  and  dishonest  one ; 
but  the  success  will  be  of  a  truer  kind,  earned  without 
fraud  or  injustice.  And  even  though  a  man  should  for  a 
time  be  unsuccessful,  still  he  must  be  honest ;  better  lose 
all  and  save  character.  For  character  is  itself  a  fortune ; 
and  if  the  high-principled  man  will  but  hold  on  his  way 
courageously,  success  will  surely  come,  —  nor  will  the 
highest  reward  of  all  be  withheld  from  him.  Words- 
worth well  describes  the  "  Happy  Warrior,"  as  he 

"  Who  comprehends  his  trust,  and  to  the  same 
Keeps  faithful  with  a  singleness  of  aim; 
And  therefore  does  not  stoop,  nor  lie  in  wait 


CHAP.  VIII.  DAVID  BARCLAY.  277 

For  wealth,  or  honor,  or  for  worldly  state ; 
Whom  they  must  follow,  on  whose  head  must  fall, 
Like  showers  of  manna,  if  they  come  at  all." 

As  an  example  of  the  high-minded  mercantile  man, 
trained  in  upright  habits  of  business,  and  distinguished  for 
justice,  truthfulness,  and  honesty  of  dealing  in  all  things, 
the  career  of  the  well-known  David  Barclay,  grandson  of 
Robert  Barclay,  of  Ury,  the  author  of  the  celebrated 
"  Apology  for  the  Quakers,"  may  be  briefly  referred  to. 
For  many  years  he  was  the  head  of  an  extensive  house 
in  Cheapside,  chiefly  engaged  in  the  American  trade; 
but  like  Granville  Sharp,  he  entertained  so  strong  an 
opinion  against  the  war  with  our  American  colonies,  that 
he  determined  to  retire  altogether  from  the  trade.  Whilst 
a  merchant,  he  was  as  much  distinguished  by  his  talents, 
knowledge,  integrity,  and  power,  as  he  afterwards  was 
for  his  patriotism  and  munificent  philanthropy.  He  was 
a  mirror  of  truthfulness  and  honesty;  and,  as  became 
the  good  Christian  and  true  gentleman,  his  word  was 
always  held  to  be  as  good  as  his  bond.  His  position,  and 
his  high  character,  induced  the  Ministers  of  the  day  on 
many  occasions  to  seek  his  advice ;  and,  when  examined 
before  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  subject  of  the 
American  dispute,  his  views  were  so  clearly  expressed, 
and  his  advice  was  so  strongly  justified  by  the  reasons 
stated  by  him,  that  Lord  North  publicly  acknowledged 
that  he  had  derived  more  information  from  David  Bar- 
clay than  from  all  others  east  of  Temple  Bar.  On  retir- 
ing from  business,  it  was  not  to  rest  in  luxurious  ease,  but 
to  enter  upon  new  labors  of  usefulness  for  others.  With 
ample  means,  he  felt  that  he  still  owed  to  society  the 
duty  of  a  great  example.  He  founded  a  house  of  in- 
dustry near  his  residence  at  Walthamstow,  which  he  sup- 


278  DAVID  BARCLAY.  CHAP.  VIII. 

porte  1  at  a  large  cost  for  several  years,  until  at  length  he 
succeeded  in  rendering  it  a  source  of  comfort  as  well  as 
independence  to  the  well-disposed  families  of  the  poor  in 
that  neighborhood.  When  an  estate  in  Jamaica  fell  to 
him,  he  determined,  though  at  a  cost  of  some  10,000/.,  at 
once  to  give  liberty  to  the  whole  of  the  slaves  on  the 
property.  He  sent  out  an  agent,  who  hired  a  ship,  and 
he  had  the  little  slave  community  transported  to  one  of 
the  free  American  States,  where  they  settled  down  and 
prospered.  Mr.  Barclay  had  been  assured  that  the 
negroes  were  too  ignorant  and  too  barbarous  for  freedom, 
and  it  was  thus  that  he  determined  practically  to  demon- 
strate the  fallacy  of  the  assertion.  In  dealing  with  his 
accumulated  savings,  he  made  himself  the  executor  of  his 
own  will,  and  instead  of  leaving  a  large  fortune  to  be 
divided  among  his  relatives  at  his  death,  he  extended  to 
them  his  munificent  aid  during  his  life,  watched  and 
aided  them  in  their  respective  careers,  and  thus  not  only 
laid  the  foundation,  but  lived  to  see  the  maturity,  of  some 
of  the  largest  and  most  prosperous  business  concerns  in 
the  metropolis.  We  believe  that  to  this  day  some  of  our 
most  eminent  merchants,  —  such  as  the  Gurneys,  Han 
burys,  and  Buxtons,  —  are  proud  to  acknowledge  with 
gratitude  the  obligations  they  owe  to  David  Barclay  for 
the  means  of  their  first  introduction  to  life,  and  for  the 
benefits  of  his  counsel  and  countenance  in  the  early  stages 
of  their  career.  Such  a  man  stands  as  a  mark  of  the 
mercantile  honesty  and  integrity  of  his  country,  and  is  a 
model  and  example  for  men  of  business  in  all  time  to 
come. 


CHAP.  IX.  BIGHT  USE  OF  MONEY.  279 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MONET, USE   AND    ABUSE. 

"  Not  for  to  hide  it  in  a  hedge, 

Nor  for  a  train  attendant, 

But  for  the  glorious  privilege 

Of  being  independent."  —  Burns, 
"  Neither  a  borrower  nor  a  lender  be ; 
For  loan  oft  loses  both  itself  and  friend  ; 
And  borrowing  dulls  the  edge  of  husbandry."  —  Shaiapean. 

How  a  man  uses  money  —  makes  it,  saves  it,  and 
spends  it  —  is  perhaps  one  of  the  best  tests  of  his  practi- 
cal wisdom.  Although  money  ought  by  no  means  to  be 
regarded  as  the  chief  end  of  man's  life,  neither  is  it  a 
trifling  matter,  to  be  held  in  philosophic  contempt,  rep- 
resenting as  it  does  to  so  large  an  extent,  the  means  of 
physical  comfort  and  social  well-being.  Indeed,  some 
of  the  finest  qualities  of  human  nature  are  intimately 
related  to  the  right  use  of  money,  such  as  generosity, 
honesty,  justice,  and  self-sacrifice ;  as  well  as  the  prac- 
tical virtues  of  economy  and  providence.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  their  counterparts  of  avarice,  fraud,  in- 
justice, and  selfishness,  as  displayed  by  inordinate  lovers 
of  gain ;  and  the  vices  of  thriftlessness,  extravagance, 
and  improvidence,  on  the  part  of  those  who  misuse  and 
abuse  the  means  intrusted  to  them.  "So  that,"  as  is 
wisely  observed  by  Henry  Taylor  in  his  thoughtful 
"Notes  from  Life,"  "a  right  measure  and  manner  in 
getting,  saving,  spending,  giving,  taking,  lending,  bor- 


280  SELF-DENIAL.  CHAP.  IX. 

rowing,  and  bequeathing,  would  almost  argue  a  perfect 
man." 

Comfort  in  worldly  circumstances  is  a  condition  which 
every  man  is  justified  in  striving  to  attain  by  all  worthy 
means.  It  secures  that  physical  satisfaction  which  is 
necessary  for  the  culture  of  the  better  part  of  his  na- 
ture ;  and  enables  him  to  provide  for  those  of  his  own 
household,  without  which,  says  the  Apostle,  a  man  is 
"  worse  than  an  infidel."  Nor  ought  the  duty  to  be  any 
the  less  indifferent  to  us,  that  the  respect  which  our  fel 
low-men  entertain  for  us  in  no  slight  degree  depends 
upon  the  manner  in  which  we  exercise  the  opportuni- 
ties which  present  themselves  for  our  honorable  ad- 
vancement in  life.  The  very  effort  required  to  be  made 
to  succeed  in  life  with  this  object,  is  of  itself  an  educa- 
tion ;  stimulating  a  man's  sense  of  self-respect,  bringing 
out  his  practical  qualities,  and  disciplining  him  in  the 
exercise  of  patience,  perseverance,  and  such  like  vir- 
tues. The  provident  and  careful  man  must  necessarily 
be  a  thoughtful  man,  for  he  lives  not  merely  for  the  pres- 
ent, but  with  provident  forecast  makes  arrangements  for 
the  future.  He  must  also  be  a  temperate  man,  and  ex- 
ercise the  virtue  of  self-denial,  than  which  nothing  is  so 
much  calculated  to  give  strength  to  the  character.  John 
Sterling  says  truly,  that  "  the  worst  education  which 
teaches  self-denial,  is  better  than  the  best  which  teaches 
everything  else,  and  not  that."  The  Romans  rightly 
employed  the  same  word  (virtus)  to  designate  courage, 
which  is  in  a  physical  sense  what  the  other  is  in  a 
moral;  the  highest  virtue  of  all  being  victory  over 
ourselves. 

What  is  the  quality  in  which  the  improvident  classes 
of   this   country   are   so   deficient    as   self-denial,  —  the 


CHAP.  IX.  SELF-IMPOSED  TAXATION.  281 

ability  to  sacrifice  a  small  present  gratification  for  a 
future  good  ?  Tho^e  classes  who  work  the  hardest 
might  naturally  be  expected  to  value  the  most  the 
money  which  they  earn.  Yet  the  readiness  with  which 
so  many  are  accustomed  to  eat  up  and  drink  up  their 
earnings  as  they  go,  renders  them  to  a  great  extent  ab- 
solutely helpless  and  dependent  upon  the  frugal.  There 
are  large  numbers  of  men  among  us,  who,  though  enjoy- 
ing sufficient  means  of  comfort  and  independence,  are 
often  found  to  be  barely  a  day's  march  ahead  of  actual 
want  when  a  time  of  pressure  occurs  ;  and  hence  a  great 
cause  of  social  helplessness  and  suffering.  On  one  oc- 
casion a  deputation  waited  on  Lord  John  Russell,  re- 
specting the  taxation  levied  on  the  working  classes  of 
the  country,  when  the  noble  lord  took  the  opportunity 
of  remarking,  "  You  may  rely  upon  it  that  the  govern- 
ment of  this  country  durst  not  tax  the  working  classes  to 
anything  like  the  extent  to  which  they  tax  themselves 
in  their  expenditure  upon  intoxicating  drinks  alone  !  "  * 

Of  all  great  public  questions,  there  is  none  more 
important  than  this,  —  no  great  work  of  reform  call- 
ing more  loudly  for  laborers.  But  it  must  be  admitted 
that  "  self-denial  and  self-help "  would  make  a  poor 
rallying  cry  for  the  hustings  ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
the  patriotism  of  this  day  has  but  little  regard  for  such 
common  things  as  individual  economy  and  providence, 

*  The  whole  expenses  of  conducting  the  government  of  Great 
Britain,  at  home  and  abroad,  for  the  year  ending  the  31st  March, 
1859,  including  the  excessive  cost  of  the  army  and  navy  in  that  year, 
the  courts  of  justice,  and  all  the  public  departments  of  state  (exclu- 
sive only  of  the  interest  on  the  national  debt),  amounted  to  34,136,399*. ; 
whereas  it  is  computed  by  Mr.  Porter,  that  we  expend  annually  up- 
wards ;f  forty-eight  millions  sterling  on  intoxicating  drinks  and 
tobacco,  the  principal  part  of  which  is  borne  by  the  working  classes 


282     THE  IMPROVIDENT  CLASSES  HELPLESS.    CHAP.  IX. 

although  it  is  by  the  practice  of  such  virtues  only  that 
the  genuine  independence  of  the  industrial  classes  is  to 
be  secured.  "  Prudence,  frugality,  and  good  manage- 
ment," said  Samuel  Drew,  the  philosophical  shoemaker, 
"  are  excellent  artists  for  mending  bad  times ;  they  oc- 
cupy but  little  room  in  any  dwelling,  but  would  furnish 
a  more  effectual  remedy  for  the  evils  of  life  than  any 
Reform  Bill  that  ever  passed  the  Houses  of  Parliament." 
Socrates  said,  "  Let  him  that  would  move  the  world  move 
first  himself."  Or,  as  the  old  rhyme  runs,  — 

"  If  every  one  would  see 

To  his  own  reformation, 
How  very  easily 
You  might  reform  a  nation." 

It  is,  however,  generally  felt  to  be  a  far  easier  thing  to 
reform  the  constitution  in  Church  and  State  than  to  re- 
form the  least  of  our  own  bad  habits  ;  and  in  such  mat- 
ters it  is  usually  found  more  agreeable  to  our  tastes,  as  it 
certainly  is  the  common  practice,  to  begin  with  our  neigh- 
bors, rather  than  with  ourselves. 

Any  class  of  men  that  lives  from  hand  to  mouth  will 
ever  be  an  inferior  class.  They  will  necessarily  remain 
impotent  and  helpless,  hanging  on  to  the  skirts  of  so- 
ciety, the  sport  of  times  and  seasons.  Having  no  re- 
spect for  themselves,  they  will  fail  in  securing  the  respect 
of  others.  In  commercial  crises,  such  men  must  inevita- 
bly go  to  the  wall.  Wanting  that  husbanded  power  which 
a  store  of  savings,  no  matter  how  small,  invariably  gives 
them,  they  will  be  at  every  man's  mercy,  and,  if  pos- 
sessed of  right  feelings,  they  cannot  but  regard  with  fear 
and  trembling  the  future  possible  fate  of  their  wives  and 
children.  "The  world,"  once  said  Mr.  Cobden  to  the 
working  men  of  Huddersfield,  "  has  always  been  divided 


CHAP.  IX.  ADVICE  OF  MR.  BRIGHT.  283 

into  two  classes,  —  those  who  have  saved,  and  those  who 
have  spent,  —  the  thrifty  and  the  extravagant.  The 
building  of  all  the  houses,  the  mills,  the  bridges,  and 
the  ships,  and  the  accomplishment  of  all  other  great 
works  which  have  rendered  man  civilized  and  happy, 
has  been  done  by  the  savers,  the  thrifty  ;  and  those  who 
have  wasted  their  resources  have  always  been  their 
slaves.  It  has  been  the  law  of  nature  and  of  Provi- 
dence, that  this  should  be  so;  and  I  were  an  impostor 
if  I  promised  any  class  that  they  would  advance  them- 
selves if  they  were  improvident,  thoughtless,  and  idle." 

Equally  sound  was  the  advice  given  by  Mr.  Bright 
to  an  assembly  of  working  men  at  Rochdale,  in  1847, 
when,  after  expressing  his  belief  that  "  so  far  as  hon- 
esty was  concerned,  it  was  to  be  found  in  pretty  equal 
amount  among  all  classes,"  he  used  the  following  words : 
"  There  is  only  one  way  that  is  safe  for  any  man,  or 
any  number  of  men,  by  which  they  can  maintain  their 
present  position  if  it  be  a  good  one,  or  raise  themselves 
above  it  if  it  be  a  bad  one,  —  that  is,  by  the  practice  of 
the  virtues  of  industry,  frugality,  temperance,  and  hon- 
esty. There  is  no  royal  road  by  which  men  can  raise 
themselves  from  a  position  which  they  feel  to  be  uncom- 
fortable and  unsatisfactory,  as  regards  their  mental  or 
physical  condition,  except  by  the  practice  of  those  vir- 
tues by  which  they  find  numbers  amongst  them  are  con- 
tinually advancing  and  bettering  themselves.  What  is 
it  that  has  made,  that  has  in  fact  created,  the  middle 
class  in  this  country,  but  the  virtues  to  which  I  have 
alluded?  There  was  a  time  when  there  was  hardly 
any  class  in  England,  except  the  highest,  that  was  equal 
in  condition  to  the  poorest  class  at  this  moment.  How 
is  it  that  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  now  exist 


284  WHAT  WORKING  MEN  MIGHT  SE.       CHAP.  IX. 

ing  in  this  our  country,  of  the  middle  class,  are  educated, 
comfortable,  and  enjoying  an  amount  of  happiness  and 
independence,  to  which  our  forefathers  were  wholly 
unaccustomed?  Why,  by  the  practice  of  those  very 
virtues  ;  for  I  maintain  that  there  has  never  been  in 
any  former  age  as  much  of  these  virtues  as  is  now  to 
be  found  amongst  the  great  middle  class  of  our  commu- 
nity. When  I  speak  of  the  middle  class,  I  mean  that 
class  which  is  between  the  privileged  class,  the  richest, 
and  the  very  poorest  in  the  community ;  and  I  would 
recommend  every  man  to  pay  no  attention  whatever  to 
public  writers  or  speakers,  whoever  they  may  be,  who 
tell  them  that  this  class  or  that  class,  that  this  law  or 
that  law,  that  this  government  or  that  government,  can 
do  all  these  things  for  them.  I  assure  you,  after  long 
reflection  and  much  observation,  that  there  is  no  way  for 
the  working  classes  of  this  country  to  improve  their  con- 
dition but  that  which  so  many  of  them  have  already 
availed  themselves  of,  —  that  is,  by  the  practice  of  those 
virtues,  and  by  reliance  upon  themselves." 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  condition  of  the  average 
workman  in  this  country  should  not  be  a  useful,  honor- 
able, respectable,  and  happy  one.  The  whole  body  of 
the  working  classes  might  (with  few  exceptions)  be  as 
frugal,  virtuous,  well-informed,  and  well-conditioned  as 
many  individuals  of  the  same  class  have  already  made 
themselves.  What  some  men  are,  all  without  difficulty 
might  be.  Employ  the  same  means,  and  the  same  re- 
sults will  follow.  That  there  should  be  a  class  of  men 
who  live  by  their  daily  labor  in  every  state  is  the  ordi- 
nance of  God,  and  doubtless  is  a  wise  and  righteous  one ; 
but  that  this  class  should  be  otherwise  than  frugal,  con- 
tented, intelligent,  and  happy,  is  not  the  design  of  Provi- 


CHAP.  IX.         HIGH  PURPOSES  OF  ECONOMY.  285 

dence,  but  springs  solely  from  the  weakness,  self-indul- 
gence, and  perverseness  of  man  himself.  The  healthy- 
spirit  of  self-help  created  amongst  working  people  would 
more  than  any  other  measure  serve  to  raise  them  as  a 
class,  and  this,  not  by  pulling  down  others,  but  by  level- 
ling them  up  to  a  higher  and  still  advancing  standard 
of  religion,  intelligence,  and  virtue.  "  All  moral  philoso- 
phy," says  Montaigne,  "  is  as  applicable  to  a  common  and 
private  life  as  to  the  most  splendid.  Every  man  carries 
the  entire  form  of  the  human  condition  within  him/' 

Economizing  one's  means  with  the  mere  object  of 
hoarding  is  a  very  mean  thing ;  but  economizing  for  the 
purpose  of  being  independent  is  one  of  the  soundest  indi- 
cations of  manly  character  ;  and  when  practised  with  the 
object  of  providing  for  those  who  are  dependent  upon  us, 
it  assumes  quite  a  noble  aspect.  It  is  the  exhibition  of 
self-help  in  one  of  its  best  forms.  Francis  Homer's 
father  gave  him  this  good  advice  on  first  entering  life: 
"  Whilst  I  wish  you  to  be  comfortable  in  every  respect,  I 
cannot  too  strongly  inculcate  economy.  It  is  a  necessary 
virtue  to  all ;  and  however  the  shallow  part  of  mankind 
may  despise  it,  it  certainly  leads  to  independence,  which 
is  a  grand  object  to  every  man  of  a  high  spirit."  Burns's 
lines,  above  quoted,  contain  the  right  idea ;  but  unhappily 
his  strain  of  song  was  higher  than  his  practice  ;  his  ideal 
better  than  his  habit.  When  laid  upon  his  death-bed  he 
wrote  to  a  friend,  "  Alas !  Clarke,  I  begin  to  feel  the 
worst.  Burns's  poor  widow,  and  half  a  dozen  of  his  dear 
little  ones  helpless  orphans;  —  there  I  am  weak  as  a 
woman's  tear.  Enough  of  this ;  —  'tis  half  my  disease." 

Every  man  ought  so  to  contrive  as  to  live  within  his 
means.  This  practice  is  of  the  very  essence  of  honesty. 
For  if  a  man  do  not  manage  honestly  to  live  within  his 


286  LIVING  WITHIN  THE  MEANS.  CHAP.  IX. 

own  means,  he  must  necessarily  be  living  dishonestly  upon 
the  means  of  somebody  else.  Those  who  are  careless 
about  personal  expenditure,  and  consider  merely  their 
own  gratification,  without  regard  for  the  comfort  of  others, 
generally  find  out  the  real  uses  of  money  when  it  is  too 
late.  Though  by  nature  generous,  these  thriftless  per- 
sons are  often  driven  in  the  end  to  do  very  shabby  things. 
They  dawdle  with  their  money  as  with  their  time  ;  draw 
bills  upon  the  future  ;  anticipate  their  earnings  ;  and  are 
thus  under  the  necessity  of  dragging  after  them  a  load  of 
debts  and  obligations  which  seriously  affect  their  action  as 
free  and  independent  men.  The  loose  cash  which  many 
persons  throw  away  uselessly,  and  worse,  would  often 
form  a  basis  of  fortune  and  independence  for  life.  These 
wasters  are  their  own  worst  enemies,  though  generally 
found  amongst  the  ranks  of  those  who  rail  at  the  injustice 
of  "  the  world."  But  if  a  man  will  not  be  his  own  friend, 
how  can  he  expect  that  others  will?  Orderly  men  of 
moderate  means  have  always  something  left  in  their  pock- 
ets to  help  others ;  whereas  your  prodigal  and  careless 
fellows  who  spend  all  never  find  an  opportunity  for  help- 
ing anybody.  It  is  poor  economy,  however,  to  be  a  scrub. 
Narrow-mindedness  in  living  and  in  dealing  is  generally 
short-sighted,  and  leads  to  failure.  The  penny  soul,  it  is 
said,  never  came  to  twopence.  Generosity  and  liberality, 
like  honesty,  prove  the  best  policy  after  all.  Though 
Jenkinson,  in  the  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  cheated  his  kind- 
hearted  neighbor  Flamborough  in  one  way  or  another 
every  year,  "  Flamborough,"  he  says,  "  has  been  regu- 
larly growing  in  riches,  while  I  have  come  to  poverty  and 
a  jail."  And  practical  life  abounds  in  cases  of  brilliant 
results  from  a  course  of  generous  and  honest  policy. 
The  proverb  says  that  "an  empty  bag  cannot  stand 


CHAP.  IX.       THE  DEBTOR  A  SLAVE.          287 

upright ; "  neither  can  a  man  who  is  in  debt.  Debt 
makes  everything  a  temptation.  It  lowers  a  man  in  self- 
respect,  places  him  at  the  mercy  of  his  tradesman  and 
his  servant,  and  renders  him  a  slave  in  many  respects, 
for  he  can  no  longer  call  himself  his  own  master,  nor 
boldly  look  the  world  in  the  face.  It  is  also  difficult  for 
a  man  who  is  in  debt  to  be  truthful ;  hence  it  is  said  that 
lying  rides  on  debt's  back.  The  debtor  has  to  frame 
excuses  to  his  creditor  for  postponing  payment  of  the 
money  he  owes  him ;  and  probably  also  to  contrive  false- 
hoods. It  is  easy  enough  for  a  man  who  will  exercise 
a  healthy  resolution,  to  avoid  incurring  the  first  obliga 
tion  ;  but  the  facility  with  which  that  has  been  incurred 
often  becomes  a  temptation  to  a  second ;  and  very  soon 
the  unfortunate  borrower  becomes  so  entangled  that  no 
late  exertion  of  industry  can  set  him  free.  The  first 
step  in  debt  is  like  the  first  step  in  falsehood ;  almost 
involving  the  necessity  of  proceeding  in  the  same  course, 
debt  following  debt,  as  lie  follows  lie.  Haydon,  the 
painter,  dated  his  decline  from  the  day  on  which  he  first 
borrowed  money.  He  realized  the  truth  of  the  proverb, 
"  Who  goes  a-borrowing,  goes  a-sorrowing."  The  signifi- 
cant entry  in  his  diary  is  :  "  Here  began  debt  and  obliga- 
tion, out  of  which  I  have  never  been  and  never  shall  be 
extricated  as  long  as  I  live."  Haydon  had  long  been 
accustomed  to  borrow  money  from  his  poor  father,  which, 
however,  he  did  not  include  in  his  obligations.  Far  dif- 
ferent was  the  noble  spirit  displayed  by  Fichte,  who  said, 
when  struggling  with  poverty,  "  For  years  I  have  never 
accepted  a  farthing  from  my  parents,  because  I  have 
seven  sisters  who  are  all  young  and  in  part  uneducated  : 
and  because  I  have  a  father  who,  were  I  to  allow  it, 
would  in  his  kindness  bestow  upon  me  that  which  be- 


288  DR.  JOHNSON  ON  DEBT.  CHAP.  IX. 

longs  by  right  to  his  other  children."  For  the  same 
high-minded  reason,  Fichte  even  refused  to  accept  pres- 
ents from  his  poor  parents. 

Dr.  Johnson  held  that  early  debt  is  ruin.  His  words 
on  the  subject  are  weighty,  and  worthy  of  being  held 
in  remembrance.  "  Do  not,"  said  he,  "  accustom  your- 
self to  consider  debt  only  as  an  inconvenience  ;  you  will 
find  it  a  calamity.  Poverty  takes  away  so  many  means 
of  doing  good,  and  produces  so  much  inability  to  resist 
evil,  both  natural  and  moral,  that  it  is  by  all  virtuous 
means  to  be  avoided.  .  .  .  Let  it  be  your  first  care,  then, 
not  to  be  in  any  man's  debt.  Resolve  not  to  be  poor ; 
whatever  you  have,  spend  less.  Poverty  is  a  great  en- 
emy to  human  happiness ;  it  certainly  destroys  liberty, 
and  it  makes  some  virtues  impracticable  and  others  ex- 
tremely difficult.  Frugality  is  not  only  the  basis  of  quiet, 
but  of  beneficence.  No  man  can  help  others  that  wants 
help  himself;  we  must  have  enough  before  we  have  to 
spare." 

It  is  the  bounden  duty  of  every  man  to  look  his  affairs 
in  the  face,  and  to  keep  an  account  of  his  incomings  and 
outgoings  in  money-matters.  The  exercise  of  a  little 
simple  arithmetic  in  this  way  will  be  found  of  great  value. 
Prudence  requires  that  we  shall  pitch  our  scale  of  living 
a  degree  below  our  means,  rather  than  up  to  them ;  but 
this  can  only  be  done  by  carrying  out  faithfully  a  plan  of 
living  by  which  both  ends  may  be  made  to  meet.  John 
Locke  strongly  advised  this  course :  "  Nothing,"  said  he, 
"is  livelier  to  keep  a  man  within  compass  than  having 
constantly  before  his  eyes  the  state  of  his  affairs  in  a 
regular  course  of  account."  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
kept  an  accurate  detailed  account  of  all  the  moneys  re- 
ceived and  expended  by  him.  "  I  make  a  point,"  said  he 


CHAP.  IX.    EAELY  STRUGGLES  OF  JOHN  JERVIS.          280 

to  Mr.  Gleig,  "of  paying  my  own  bills,  and  I  advise 
every  one  to  do  the  same ;  formerly  I  used  to  trust  a 
confidential  servant  to  pay  them,  but  I  was  cured  of  that 
folly  by  receiving  one  morning,  to  my  great  surprise, 
duns  of  a  year  or  two's  standing.  The  fellow  had  specu- 
lated with  my  money,  and  left  my  bills  unpaid."  Talking 
of  debt,  his  remark  was,  "  It  makes  a  slave  of  a  man.  I 
have  often  known  what  it  was  to  be  in  want  of  money, 
but  I  never  got  into  debt."  Washington  was  as  particu- 
lar as  Wellington  was,  in  matters  of  business  detail ;  and 
it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  he  did  not  disdain  to  scruti- 
nize the  smallest  outgoings  of  his  household  —  determined 
as  he  was  to  live  honestly  within  his  means  —  even 
while  holding  the  high  office  of  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union. 

Admiral  Jervis,  Earl  St.  Vincent,  has  told  the  story  of 
his  early  struggles,  and,  amongst  other  things,  of  his  de- 
termination to  keep  out  of  debt.  "  My  father  had  a  very 
large  family,"  said  he,  "  with  limited  means.  He  gave 
me  twenty  pounds  at  starting,  and  that  was  all  he  ever 
gave  me.  After  I  had  been  a  considerable  time  at  the 
station  [at  sea],  I  drew  for  twenty  more,  but  the  bill 
came  back  protested.  I  was  mortified  at  this  rebuke, 
and  made  a  promise,  which  I  have  ever  kept,  that  I 
would  never  draw  another  bill  without  a  certainty  of  its 
being  paid.  I  immediately  changed  my  mode  of  living, 
quitted  my  mess,  lived  alone,  and  took  up  the  ship's 
allowance,  which  I  found  quite  sufficient ;  washed  and 
mended  my  own  clothes ;  made  a  pair  of  trousers  out  of 
the  ticking  of  my  bed;  and  having  by  these  means 
saved  as  much  money  as  would  redeem  my  honor,  I  took 
up  my  bill ;  and  from  that  time  to  this  I  have  taken  care 
to  keep  within  my  means."  Jervis  for  six  years  endured 
13 


290  BEGINNING  WELL.  CHAP.  IX, 

pinching  privation,  but  preserved  his  integrity,  studied 
his  profession  with  success,  and  gradually  and  steadily 
rose  by  merit  and  bravery  to  the  highest  rank.  Samuel 
Drew's  first  lesson  in  economy  is  thus  described  by  him- 
self: "  When  I  was  a  boy,  I  somehow  got  a  few  pence, 
and  coming  into  St.  Austell  on  a  fair  day,  laid  out  all  on 
a  purse.  My  empty  purse  often  reminded  me  of  my 
folly ;  and  the  recollection  has  since  been  as  useful  to  me 
as  Franklin's  whistle  was  to  him." 

It  is  a  great  point  for  young  men  to  begin  well ;  for  it 
is  in  the  beginning  of  life  that  that  system  of  conduct  is 
adopted,  which  soon  assumes  the  force  of  Habit.  Begin 
well,  and  the  habit  of  doing  well  will  become  quite  as 
easy  as  the  habit  of  doing  badly.  Well  begun  is  half 
ended,  says  the  proverb ;  and  a  good  beginning  is  half  the 
battle.  Many  promising  young  men  have  irretrievably 
injured  themselves  by  a  first  false  step  at  the  commence- 
ment of  life ;  while  others,  of  much  less  promising  talents, 
have  succeeded  simply  by  beginning  well,  and  going  on- 
ward. The  good  practical  beginning  is,  to  a  certain  ex- 
•tent,  a  pledge,  a  promise,  and  an  assurance,  of  the  ulti- 
mate prosperous  issue.  There  is  many  a  poor  creature, 
now  crawling  through  life,  miserable  himself  and  the 
cause  of  sorrow  to  others,  who  might  have  lifted  up  his 
head  and  prospered,  if,  instead  of  merely  satisfying  him- 
self with  resolutions  of  well-doing,  he  had  actually  gone 
to  work  and  made  a  good  practical  beginning. 

Too  many  are,  however,  impatient  of  results.  They 
are  not  satisfied  to  begin  where  their  fathers  did,  but 
where  they  left  off.  They  think  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
industry  without  working  for  them.  They  cannot  wait 
for  the  results  of  labor  and  application,  but  forestall  them 
by  too  early  indulgence.  A  worthy  Scotch  couple,  when 


CHAP.  IX.  LIVING  TOO  HIGH.  291 

asked  how  their  son  had  broken  down  so  early  in  life, 
gave  the  following  explanation :  "  When  we  began  life 
together,  we  worked  hard,  and  lived  upon  porridge  and 
such  like,  gradually  adding  to  our  comforts  as  our  means 
improved,  until  we  were  able  at  length  to  dine  off  a  bit 
of  roast  meat  and  sometimes  a  boilt  chuckie  (or  fowl)  ; 
but  as  for  Jock,  our  son,  he  began  where  we  had  left  off, 
—  he  began  wi '  the  chuckie  first."  The  same  illustration 
will  apply  to  higher  conditions  of  life  than  that  of  this 
humble  pair. 

Mr.  Hume  hit  the  mark  when  he  once  stated  in  the 
House  of  Commons  —  though  his  words  were  followed 
by  "  laughter "  —  that  the  tone  of  living  in  England  is 
altogether  too  high.  Middle-class  people  are  too  apt  to 
live  up  to  their  incomes,  if  not  beyond  them ;  affecting  a 
degree  of  "  style  "  which  is  most  unhealthy  in  its  effect 
upon  society  at  large.  There  is  an  ambition  to  bring  up 
boys  as  gentlemen,  or  rather  "  genteel "  men ;  though  the 
result  frequently  is,  only  to  make  them  gents.  They 
acquire  a  taste  for  dress,  style,  luxuries,  and  amusements, 
which  can  never  form  any  solid  foundation  for  manly  or 
gentlemanly  character ;  and  the  result  is,  that  we  have  a 
vast  number  of  gingerbread  young  gentry  thrown  upon 
the  world,  who  remind  one  of  the  abandoned  hulls  some- 
times picked  up  at  sea,  with  only  a  monkey  on  board. 

There  is  a  dreadful  ambition  abroad  for  being  "  gen- 
teel." We  keep  up  appearances,  too  often  at  the  expense 
of  honesty;  and,  though  we  may  not  be  rich,  yet  we 
must  seem  to  be  so.  We  must  be  "  respectable,"  though 
only  in  the  meanest  sense,  —  in  mere  vulgar  outward 
show.  We  have  not  the  courage  to  go  patiently  onward 
in  the  condition  of  life  in  which  it  has  pleased  God  to 
call  us ;  but  must  needs  live  in  some  fashionable  state  to 


292  SIR  CHARLES  NAPIER  ON  DEBT.       CHAP.  IX. 

which  we  ridiculously  please  to  call  ourselves,  and  all  to 
gratify  the  vanity  of  that  unsubstantial  genteel  world  of 
which  we  form  a  part.  There  is  a  constant  struggle  and 
pressure  for  front  seats  in  the  social  amphitheatre ;  in  the 
midst  of  which  all  noble  self-denying  resolve  is  trodden 
down,  and  many  fine  natures  are  inevitably  crushed  to 
death.  What  waste,  what  misery,  what  bankruptcy, 
come  from  all  this  ambition  to  dazzle  others  with  the 
glare  of  apparent  worldly  success,  we  need  not  describe. 
The  mischievous  results  show  themselves  in  a  thousand 
ways,  —  in  the  rank  frauds  committed  by  men  who  dare 
to  be  dishonest,  but  do  not  dare  to  seem  poor ;  and  in  the 
desperate  dashes  at  fortune,  in  which  the  pity  is  not  so 
much  for  those  who  fail,  as  for  the  hundreds  of  innocent 
families  who  are  so  often  involved  in  their  ruin. 

The  late  Sir  Charles  Napier,  in  taking  leave  of  his 
command  in  India,  did  a  bold  and  honest  thing  in  pub- 
lishing his  strong  protest,  embodied  in  his  last  General 
Order  to  the  officers  of  the  Indian  army,  against  the 
"  fast "  life  led  by  so  many  young  officers  in  that  service, 
involving  them  in  ignominious  obligations.  Sir  Charles 
strongly  urged,  in  that  famous  document,  —  what  had 
almost  been  lost  sight  of,  —  that  "  honesty  is  inseparable 
from  the  character  of  a  thorough-bred  gentleman ; "  and 
that  "  to  drink  unpaid-for  champagne  and  unpaid-for  beer, 
and  to  ride  unpaid-for  horses,  is  to  be  a  cheat,  and  not  a 
gentleman."  Men  who  lived  beyond  their  means,  and 
were  summoned,  often  by  their  own  servants,  before 
Courts  of  Requests  for  debts  contracted  in  extravagant 
living,  might  be  officers  by  virtue  of  their  commissions, 
but  they  were  not  gentlemen.  The  habit  of  being  con- 
stantly in  debt,  the  Commander-in-Chief  held,  made  men 
grow  callous  to  the  proper  feelings  of  a  gentleman.  It 


CHAP.  IX.         RESISTANCE  TO  TEMPTATION.  293 

was  not  enough  that  an  officer  should  be  able  to  fight ; 
that  any  bull-dog  could  do.  But  did  he  hold  his  word 
inviolate,  —  did  he  pay  his  debts?  These  were  among 
the  points  of  honor  which,  he  insisted,  illuminated  the 
true  gentleman's  and  soldier's  career.  As  Bayard  was 
of  old,  so  would  Sir  Charles  Napier  have  all  British  offi- 
cers to  be.  He  knew  them  to  be  "  without  fear,"  but  he 
would  also  have  them  "  without  reproach."  There  are, 
however,  many  gallant  young  fellows,  both  in  India  and 
at  home,  capable  of  mounting  a  breach  on  an  emergency 
amidst  belching  fire,  and  of  performing  the  most  desperate 
deeds  of  valor,  who  nevertheless  cannot  or  will  not  exer- 
cise the  moral  courage  necessary  to  enable  them  to  resist 
a  petty  temptation  presented  to  their  senses.  They  can- 
not utter  their  valiant  "  No,"  or  "  I  can't  afford  it,"  to  the 
invitations  of  pleasure  and  self-enjoyment ;  and  they  are 
found  ready  to  brave  death  rather  than  the  ridicule  of 
their  companions. 

The  young  man,  as  he  passes  through  life,  advances 
through  a  long  line  of  tempters  ranged  on  either  side 
of  him ;  and  the  inevitable  effect  of  yielding,  is  degra- 
dation in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  Contact  with  them 
tends  insensibly  to  draw  away  from  him  some  portion 
of  the  divine  electric  element  with  which  his  nature  is 
charged ;  and  his  only  mode  of  resisting  them  is  to  utter 
and  to  act  out  his  "  No "  manfully  and  resolutely.  He 
must  decide  at  once,  not  waiting  to  deliberate  and  bal- 
ance reasons ;  for  the  youth,  like  "  the  woman  who  de- 
liberates, is  lost."  Many  deliberate,  without  deciding; 
but  "  not  to  resolve,  is  to  resolve."  A  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  man  is  in  the  prayer,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation." But  temptation  will  come  to  try  the  young 
man's  strength ;  and  once  yielded  to,  the  power  to  resist 


294  RESISTANCE  TO  TEMPTATION.          CHAP.  IX. 

grows  weaker  and  weaker.  Yield  once,  and  a  portion 
of  virtue  has  gone.  Resist  manfully,  and  the  first  de- 
cision will  give  strength  for  life;  repeated,  it  will  be- 
come a  habit.  It  is  in  the  outworks  of  the  habits  formed 
in  early  life  that  the  real  strength  of  the  defence  must 
lie ;  for  it  has  been  wisely  ordained,  that  the  machinery 
of  moral  existence  should  be  carried  on  principally 
through  the  medium  of  the  habits,  so  as  to  save  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  great  principles  within.  It  is  good  habits, 
which  insinuate  themselves  into  the  thousand  inconsider- 
able acts  of  life,  that  really  constitute  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  man's  moral  conduct. 

Hugh  Miller  has  told  how,  by  an  act  of  youthful  de- 
cision, he  saved  himself  from  one  of  the  strong  tempta- 
tions so  peculiar  to  a  life  of  toil.  When  employed  as  a 
mason,  it  was  usual  for  his  fellow-workmen  to  have  an 
occasional  treat  of  drink,  and  one  day  two  glasses  of 
whiskey  fell  to  his  share,  which  he  swallowed.  When 
he  reached  home,  he  found,  on  opening  his  favorite  book, 
—  "  Bacon's  Essays,"  —  that  the  letters  danced  before 
his  eyes,  and  that  he  could  no  longer  master  the  sense. 
"The  condition,"  he  says,  "into  which  I  had  brought 
myself  was,  I  felt,  one  of  degradation.  I  had  sunk,  by 
rny  own  act,  for  the  time,  to  a  lower  level  of  intelligence 
than  that  on  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  placed; 
and  though  the  state  could  have  been  no  very  favorable 
one  for  forming  a  resolution,  I  in  that  hour  determined 
that  I  should  never  again  sacrifice  my  capacity  of  intel- 
lectual enjoyment  to  a  drinking  usage ;  and  with  God's 
help,  I  was  enabled  to  hold  by  the  determination."  It 
is  such  decisions  as  this  that  often  form  the  turning- 
points  in  a  man's  life,  and  furnish  the  foundation  of  hia 
future  character.  And  this  rock,  on  which  Hugh  Mil- 


CHAP.  IX.        A  HIGH  STAND AED  NECESSARY.  295 

ler  might  have  been  wrecked,  if  he  had  not  at  the  right 
moment  put  forth  his  moral  strength  to  strike  away  from 
it,  is  one  that  youth  and  manhood  alike  need  to  be  con- 
stantly on  their  guard  against.  It  is  about  one  of  the 
worst  and  most  deadly,  as  well  as  extravagant,  tempta- 
tions which  lie  in  the  way  of  youth.  Sir  Walter  Scot! 
used  to  say  "  that  of  all  vices  drinking  is  the  most  in- 
compatible with  greatness."  Not  only  so,  but  it  is  in- 
compatible with  economy,  decency,  health,  and  honest 
living.  When  a  youth  cannot  restrain,  he  must  abstain. 
Dr.  Johnson's  case  is  the  case  of  many.  He  said,  re- 
ferring to  his  own  habits,  "  Sir,  I  can  abstain ;  but  I 
can't  be  moderate." 

But  to  wrestle  vigorously  and  successfully  with  any 
vicious  habit,  we  must  not  merely  be  satisfied  with  con- 
tending on  the  low  ground  of  worldly  prudence,  though 
that  is  of  use,  but  take  stand  upon  a  higher  moral  ele- 
vation. Mechanical  aids,  such  as  pledges,  may  be  of 
service  to  some,  but  the  great  thing  is  to  set  up  a  high 
standard  of  thinking  and  acting,  and  endeavor  to  strength- 
en and  purify  the  principles,  as  well  as  to  reform  the 
habits.  For  this  purpose  a  youth  must  study  himself, 
watch  his  steps,  and  compare  his  thoughts  and  acts  with 
his  rule.  The  more  knowledge  of  himself  he  gains,  the 
more  humble  will  he  be,  and  perhaps  the  less  confident  in 
his  own  strength.  But  the  discipline  will  be  found  most 
valuable  which  is  acquired  by  resisting  small  present 
gratifications  to  secure  a  prospective  greater  and  higher 
Dne.  It  is  the  noblest  work  in  self-education,  —  for 

"  Real  glory 

Springs  from  the  silent  conquest  of  ourselves, 
And  without  that  the  conqueror  is  nought 
But  the  first  slave." 


296    -  PROVERBS  ON  MONEY-MAKING.         CHAP.  IX. 

Many  popular  books  have  been  written  for  the  pur 
pose  of  communicating  to  the  public  the  grand  secret 
of  making  money.  But  there  is  no  secret  whatever 
about  it,  as  the  proverbs  of  every  nation  abundantly 
testify.  "  Many  a  little  makes  a  meikle."  —  "  Take  care 
of  the  pennies  and  the  pounds  will  take  care  of  them- 
selves." —  "A  penny  saved  is  a  penny  gained." —  "  Dil- 
igence is  the  mother  of  good-luck."  —  "No  pains  no 
gains."  —  "  No  sweat  no  sweet."  —  "  Sloth,  the  key  of 
poverty."  —  "  Work,  and  thou  shalt  have."  —  "  He  who 
will  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat."  — "  The  world  is 
his,  who  has  patience  and  industry." — "It  is  too  late  to 
spare  when  all  is  spent."  — "  Better  go  to  bed  supper- 
less  than  rise  in  debt."  — "  The  morning  hour  has  gold 
in  its  mouth."  — "  Credit  keeps  the  crown  of  the  cause- 
way." Such  are  specimens  of  the  proverbial  philosophy, 
embodying  the  hoarded  experience  of  many  generations, 
as  to  the  best  means  of  thriving  in  the  world.  They 
were  current  in  people's  mouths  long  before  books  were 
invented ;  and  like  other  popular  proverbs,  they  were  the 
first  codes  of  popular  morals.  Moreover  they  have  stood 
the  test  of  time,  and  the  experience  of  every  day  still 
bears  witness  to  their  accuracy,  force,  and  soundness. 
The  proverbs  of  Solomon  are  full  of  wisdom,  as  to  the 
force  of  industry,  and  the  use  and  abuse  of  money: 
"  He  that  is  slothful  in  work  is  brother  to  him  that  is 
a  great  waster."  —  "  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard ;  con 
sider  her  ways  and  be  wise."  Poverty,  he  says,  shall 
come  upon  the  idler,  "  as  one  that  travelleth,  and  want 
as  an  armed  man ; "  but  of  the  industrious  and  upright, 
"The  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich."  — "He  who 
will  not  plough  by  reason  of  the  cold,  shall  beg  in 
harvest,  and  have  nothing."  — "  The  drunkai*3  and  the 


CHAP.  IX.  INDUSTRY  AND  THRIFT.  297 

glutton  shall  come  to  poverty;  and  drowsiness  shall 
clothe  a  man  with  rags."  — "  The  slothful  man  says 
there  is  a  lion  in  the  streets."  — "  Seest  thou  a  man 
diligent  in  his  business?  he  shall  stand  before  kings." 

—  But  above  all  "  It  is  better  to  get  wisdom  than  gold ; 
for  wisdom  is  better  than  rubies,  and  all  the  things  that 
may  be  desired  are  not  to  be  compared  to  it." 

Simple  industry  and  thrift  will  go  far  towards  making 
any  person  of  ordinary  working  faculty  comparatively 
independent  in  his  means.  Even  a  working  man  may 
be  so,  provided  he  will  carefully  husband  his  resources 
and  watch  the  little  outlets  of  useless  expenditure.  A 
penny  is  a  very  small  matter,  yet  the  comfort  of  thou- 
sands of  families  depends  upon  the  proper  spending  and 
saving  of  pennies.  If  a  man  allows  the  little  pennies, 
the  results  of  his  hard  work,  to  slip  out  of  his  fingers, 

—  some  to  the  beershop,  some  this  way  and  some  that, 

—  he  will  find  that  his  life  is  little  raised  above  one  of 
mere  animal  drudgery.      On  the  other  hand,  if  he  take 
care  of  the  pennies,  —  putting  some  weekly  into  a  benefit 
society  or  an  insurance  fund,  others  into  a  savings-bank, 
and  confiding  the  rest  to  his  wife  to  be  carefully  laid 
out,  with   a  view  to  the  comfortable  maintenance  and 
education  of  his  family,  —  he  will  soon  find  that  his  at- 
tention to  small  matters  will  abundantly  repay  him,  in 
increasing  means,  growing  comfort  at  home,  and  a  mind 
comparatively  free  from  fears  as  to  the  future.      If  a 
working  man  have  high  ambition  and  possess  richness 
in  spirit,  —  a  kind  of  wealth  which  far  transcends  al) 
mere  worldly  possessions,  —  he  may  not  only  help  him- 
self, but  be  a  profitable  helper  of  others   in  his  path 
through  life.     That  this  is  no  impossible  thing,  even  for 
a  common  laborer  in  a  workshop,  may  be  illustrated  by 

13* 


298  CAREER  OF  THOMAS  WRIGHT.          CITAP.  IX, 

the  remarkable  career  of  Thomas  Wright,  of  Manches- 
ter, whose  life  affords  only  another  proof  of  the  power 
of  patient  perseverance  in  well-doing,  and  of  the  influ- 
ence which  even  the  humblest  person,  who  is  diligent 
in  improving  his  opportunities,  may  exercise  for  the  ad« 
vantage  of  his  fellow-creatures. 

It  was  scarcely  to  have  been  expected,  that  one  of  the 
most  difficult  and  apparently  impossible  of  things,  the 
reclamation  of  criminals,  should  have  been  not  only  at- 
tempted, but  accomplished,  by  a  man  working  for  weekly 
wages  in  a  foundry  !  Yet  this  work  was  done  by  Thom- 
as Wright  when  employed  with  the  Messrs.  Ormerod, 
at  Manchester.  Accident  first  directed  his  attention  to 
the  difficulty  encountered  by  liberated  convicts  in  return- 
ing to  habits  of  honest  industry.  His  mind  was  possessed 
by  the  subject ;  and  to  remedy  the  evil  became  the  pur- 
pose of  his  life.  He  did  not  neglect  his  work,  for  he 
honorably  performed  his  duties  as  a  foundry-man,  and  his 
working  and  business  qualities  were  so  highly  prized  by 
his  employers,  that  he  was  gradually  raised  to  the  post  of 
foreman  of  his  shop.  Nor  did  he  neglect  his  family,  for, 
upon  comparatively  small  means,  he  respectably  brought 
up  a  large  family.  Though  he  worked  from  six  in 
the  morning  till  six  at  night,  still  there  were  leisure  min- 
utes that  he  could  call  his  own,  —  more  especially  his 
Sundays,  —  and  these  he  employed  in  the  service  of  con- 
victed criminals ;  a  class  then  far  more  neglected  than 
they  are  now.  But  a  few  minutes  a  day,  well  employed, 
can  effect  a  great  deal ;  and  it  will  scarcely  be  credited, 
that  in  ten  years  this  working  man,  by  steadfastly  holding 
to  his  purpose,  succeeded  in  rescuing  not  fewer  than  three 
hundred  felons  from  continuance  in  a  life  of  villany ! 
He  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  moral  physician  of  the 


CHAP.  IX.         CAREER  OF  THOMAS  WRIGHT.  299 

Manchester  Old  Bailey  ;  and  when  the  Chaplain  and  all 
others  failed,  Thomas  Wright  often  succeeded.  Children 
he  thus  restored  healed  to  their  parents  ;  sons  and  daugh- 
ters otherwise  lost,  to  their  homes  ;  and  many  a  returned 
convict  did  he  contrive  to  settle  down  to  honest  and  indus- 
trious pursuits.  The  task  was  by  no  means  easy.  It 
required  money,  time,  energy,  prudence,  and  above  all, 
character,  and  the  confidence  which  character  invariably 
inspires.  The  most  remarkable  circumstance  of  all  is, 
that  Wright  relieved  many  of  these  poor  outcasts  out  of 
the  comparatively  small  wages  earned  by  him  at  foundry 
work.  He  did  all  this  on  an  income  which  did  not  aver- 
age, during  his  working  career,  WOL  per  annum  ;  and 
yet,  while  he  was  able  to  bestow  substantial  aid  on  crim- 
inals, to  whom  he  owed  no  more  than  the  service  of  kind- 
ness which  every  human  being  owes  to  another,  he  also 
maintained  his  own  family  in  comfort,  and  was,  by  fru- 
gality and  carefulness,  enabled  to  lay  by  a  store  of  savings 
against  his  approaching  old  age.  Every  week  he  appor- 
tioned his  income  with  deliberate  care ;  so  much  for  the 
indispensable  necessaries  of  food  and  clothing,  so  much 
for  the  landlord,  so  much  for  the  schoolmaster,  so  much 
for  the  poor  and  needy;  and  the  lines  of  distribution 
were  resolutely  observed.  By  such  means  did  this  hum- 
ble workman  pursue  his  great  work,  with  the  results  we 
have  so  briefly  described.  .  His  career  affords  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  and  striking  illustrations  of  the  force  of 
purpose  in  a  man,  of  the  might  of  small  means  carefully 
and  sedulously  applied,  and,  above  all,  of  the  power 
which  an  energetic  and  upright  character  invariably  ex- 
ercises upon  the  lives  and  conduct  of  others. 

There  is  no  discredit,  but  honor,  in  every  right  walk 
of  industry,  whether  it  be  in  tilling  the  ground,  making 


300          ALL  HONEST  INDUSTRY  HONOEABLE.    CHAP.  IX. 

tools,  weaving  fabrics,  or  selling  the  products  behind  a 
counter.  A  youth  may  handle  a  yard-stick,  or  measure 
a  piece  of  ribbon  ;  and  there  will  be  no  discredit  in  doing 
so,  unless  he  allows  his  mind  to  have  no  higher  range 
than  the  stick  and  ribbon  ;  to  be  as  short  as  the  one,  and 
as  narrow  as  the  other.  "  Let  not  those  blush  who  have? 
said  Fuller,  "  but  those  who  have  not  a  lawful  calling," 
And  Bishop  Hall  said,  "  Sweet  is  the  destiny  of  all 
trades,  whether  of  the  brow  or  of  the  mind."  Men  who 
have  raised  themselves  from  a  humble  calling,  need  not 
be  ashamed,  but  rather  ought  to  be  proud  of  the  difficul- 
ties they  have  surmounted.  The  laborer  on  his  feet 
stands  higher  than  the  nobleman  on  his  knees.  An 
American  President,  when  asked  what  was  his  coat-of- 
arms,  remembering  that  he  had  been  a  hewer  of  wood 
in  his  youth,  replied,  "  A  pair  of  shirt-sleeves."  Lord 
Tenterden  was  proud  to  point  out  to  his  son  the  shop 
in  which  his  father  had  shaved  for  a  penny.  A  French 
doctor  once  taunted  Flechier,  Bishop  of  Nismes,  who  had 
been  a  tallow-chandler  in  his  youth,  with  the  meanness  of 
his  origin,  to  which  Flechier  replied,  "  If  you  had  been 
born  in  the  same  condition  that  I  was,  you  would  still 
have  been  but  a  maker  of  candles."  Some  small  spirits, 
ashamed  of  their  origin,  are  always  striving  to  conceal  it, 
and  by  the  very  efforts  they  make  to  do  so,  betray  them- 
selves ;  like  that  worthy  but  stupid  Yorkshire  dyer,  who, 
having  gained  his  money  by  honest  chimney-sweeping, 
and  feeling  ashamed  of  chimneys,  built  his  house  without 
one,  sending  all  his  smoke  into  the  shaft  of  his  dye-works. 
The  benevolent  Sir  Thomas  Bernard,  one  of  the  best 
practical  philanthropists  of  his  day,  in  his  "  Tracts  for 
bettering  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,"  makes  honorable 
mention  of  "  a  very  intelligent  and  valuable  man,  Mr. 


CHAP.  IX.  AN  ILLUSTKIOUS  SWEEP.  301 

David  Porter,  a  master  chimney-sweeper  in  Welbeck 
Street,"  who  is  another  good  illustration  of  the  force  of 
diligence  and  well-doing.  In  early  boyhood  Porter  was 
kidnapped  for  a  sweep  ;  the  condition  of  climbing-boys  at 
the  time  being  one  almost  of  slavery.  The  boy,  however, 
had  energy  of  body  and  mind,  and  survived  the  privations 
of  his  unfortunate  class.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
commenced  business  as  a  sweep  on  his  own  account. 
When  employment  was  slack  in  his  trade,  he  sought  and 
found  it  in  others  ;  in  summer  and  harvest  time  he  went 
into  Lincolnshire  and  worked  at  farm  labor,  always  bring- 
ing home  a  little  store  of  savings.  But  he  did  not  neglect 
his  mind ;  above  all,  he  did  not  forget  the  hardships  en- 
dured by  the  poor  little  climbing-boys ;  all  of  which  he 
had  himself  passed  through.  He  therefore  devoted  his 
leisure,  —  snatched  from  a  busy  life,  —  to  write  a  treatise 
on  the  subject,  which  he  printed  and  distributed  amongst 
influential  persons  ;  thereby  initiating,  as  Granville  Sharp 
had  done,  the  movement  which  issued  in  the  amelioration 
of  the  sufferings  of  this  class.  Mr.  Porter,  by  his  frugal- 
ity, industry,  and  application  to  business,  eventually  real- 
ized a  large  fortune,  at  the  same  time  promoting  the 
comforts  of  his  boys  and  workmen  in  a  manner  altogether 
unknown  and  unusual  at  the  time.  On  Sir  Thomas  Ber- 
nard asking  Mr.  Porter  how  he  had  succeeded  in  his 
business,  and  accumulated  so  large  a  fortune,  he  an- 
swered, "  By  never  having  an  idle  hour  or  an  idle 
guinea."  This  was  his  whole  secret. 

Nothing,  however,  is  more  common  than  energy  in 
money-making,  quite  independent  of  any  higher  object 
than  its  accumulation.  A  man  who  devotes  himself  to 
this  pursuit,  body  and  soul,  can  scarcely  fail  to  become 
rich.  Very  little  brains  will  do ;  spend  less  than  you 


302  MERE  MONEY-MAKING.  CHAP.  IX. 

earn ;  add  guinea  to  guinea ;  scrape  and  save  ;  and  the 
pile  of  gold  will  gradually  rise.  John  Foster  quoted  a 
striking  illustration  of  what  this  kind  of  determination  will 
do  in  money -making.  A  young  man  who  ran  through  his 
patrimony,  spending  it  in  profligacy,  was  at  length  re- 
duced to  utter  want  and  despair.  He  rushed  out  of  his 
house  intending  to  put  an  end  to  his  life,  and  stopped  on 
arriving  at  an  eminence  overlooking  what  were  once  his 
estates.  He  sat  down,  ruminated  for  a  time,  and  rose 
with  the  determination  that  he  would  recover  them.  He 
returned  to  the  streets,  saw  a  load  of  coals  which  had 
been  shot  out  of  a  cart  on  to  the  pavement  before  a  house, 
offered  to  carry  them  in,  and  was  employed.  He  thus 
earned  a  few  pence,  requested  some  meat  and  drink  as  a 
gratuity,  which  was  given  him,  and  the  pennies  were  laid 
by.  Pursuing  this  menial  labor,  he  earned  and  saved 
more  pennies;  accumulated  sufficient  to  enable  him  to 
purchase  some  cattle,  the  value  of  which  he  understood, 
and  these  he  sold  to  advantage.  He  now  pursued  money 
with  a  step  as  steady  as  time,  and  an  appetite  as  keen  as 
death ;  advancing  by  degrees  into  larger  and  larger  trans- 
actions, until  at  length  he  became  rich.  The  result  was, 
that  he  more  than  recovered  his  possessions,  and  died  an 
inveterate  miser.  When  he  was  buried,  mere  earth  went 
to  earth.  With  a  nobler  spirit,  the  same  determination 
might  have  enabled  such  a  man  to  be  a  benefactor  to 
others  as  well  as  to  himself.  But  the  life  and  its  end  in 
this  case  were  alike  sordid. 

The  saving  of  money  for  the  mere  sake  of  it,  is  but  a 
mean  thing,  even  though  earned  by  honest  work ;  but 
where  earned  by  dice-throwing,  or  speculation,  and  with- 
out labor,  it  is  still  worse.  To  provide  for  others,  and 
for  our  own  comfort  and  independence  in  old  age,  is  hon- 


CHAP.  IX.  THE  LOVE  OF  MONEY.  303 

orable,  and  greatly  to  be  commended ;  but  to  hoard  for 
mere  wealth's  sake  is  the  characteristic  of  the  narrow- 
souled  and  the  miserly.  It  is  against  the  growth  of  this 
habit  of  inordinate  saving,  that  the  wise  man  needs  most 
carefully  to  guard  himself;  else,  what  in  youth  was  sim- 
ple economy,  may  in  old  age  grow  into  avarice,  and 
what  was  a  duty  in  the  one,  may  become  a  vice  in  the 
other.  It  is  the  love  of  money  —  not  money  itself — 
which  is  "  the  root  of  evil," —  a  love  which  narrows  and 
contracts  the  soul,  and  closes  it  against  generous  life  and 
action.  Hence,  Sir  Walter  Scott  makes  one  of  his  char- 
acters declare  that  "  the  penny  siller  slew  mair  souls  than 
the  naked  sword  slew  bodies."  It  is  one  of  the  defects 
of  business  too  exclusively  followed,  that  it  insensibly 
tends  to  a  mechanism  of  character.  The  business  man 
gets  into  a  rut,  and  often  does  not  look  beyond  it.  If 
he  lives  for  himself  only,  he  becomes  apt  to  regard  other 
human  beings  only  in  so  far  as  they  minister  to  his  ends. 
Take  a  leaf  from  such  men's  ledger,  and  you  have  their 
life.  It  is  said  of  one  of  our  most  eminent  modern  men  of 
business  —  withal  a  scrupulously  honorable  man  —  whc 
spent  his  life  mainly  in  money-making,  and  succeeded, 
that  when  upon  his  death-bed,  he  turned  to  his  favorite 
daughter,  and  said  solemnly  to  her,  "  Hasn't  it  been  a 

mistake, ? "     He  had  been   thinking   of  the  good 

which  other  men  of  his  race  had  done,  and  which  he 
might  have  done,  had  he  not  unhappily  found  exclusive 
money-making  to  be  a  mistake  when  it  was  too  late  to 
remedy  it;  and,  when  he  must  leave  behind  him  his 
huge  pile  of  gold,  the  accumulation  of  which  had  been 
almost  the  sole  object  of  his  life. 

Worldly  success,  measured  by  the  accumulation   of 
\noney,  is  no  doubt  a  very  dazzling  thing ;  and  all  men 


304  RICHES  NO  PROOF  OF  WORTH.         CHAP.  IX. 

are  naturally  more  or  less  the  admirers  of  worldly  sue-* 
cess.  But  though  men  of  persevering,  sharp,  dexterous, 
and  unscrupulous  habits,  ever  on  the  watch  to  push  op- 
portunities, may  and  do  "  get  on "  in  the  world ;  yet  it 
is  quite  possible  that  they  may  not  possess  the  slight- 
est elevation  of  character,  nor  a  particle  of  real  great- 
ness. He  who  recognizes  no  higher  logic  than  that 
of  the  shilling,  may  become  a  very  rich  man,  and  yet 
remain  all  the  while  an  exceedingly  poor  creature. 
For  riches  are  no  proof  whatever  of  moral  worth  ; 
and  their  glitter  often  serves  only  to  draw  attention  to 
the  worthlessness  of  their  possessor,  as  the  glowworm's 
light  reveals  the  grub.  "  In  morals,"  says  Mr.  Lynch,* 
"  a  penny  may  outweigh  a  pound,  —  may  represent 
more  industry  and  character.  The  money  that  wit- 
nesses of  patient,  inventive  years  of  fair  dealing  and 
brave  dealing,  proves  i  worth '  indeed.  But  neither  a 
man's  means  nor  his  worth  are  measurable  by  his 
money.  If  he  has  a  fat  purse  and  a  lean  heart,  a  broad 
estate  and  a  narrow  understanding,  what  will  his  'means' 
do  for  him,  —  what  will  his  '  worth  '  gain  him  ?  "  Let  a 
man  be  what  he  will,  it  is  the  mind  and  heart  that  make 
a  man  poor  or  rich,  miserable  or  happy ;  for  these  are 
always  stronger  than  fortune. 

The  manner  in  which  so  many  allow  themselves  to  be 
sacrificed  to  their  love  of  wealth,  reminds  one  of  the 
cupidity  of  the  monkey,  —  that  caricature  of  our  species. 
In  Algiers,  the  Kabyle  peasant  attaches  a  gourd,  well 
fixed,  to  a  tree,  and  places  within  it  some  rice.  The 
gourd  has  an  opening  merely  sufficient  to  admit  the 
monkey's  paw.  The  creature  comes  to  the  tree  by 

*  "Lectures  in  aid  of  Self-Improvement;"  a  book  somewhat 
didactic  in  its  manner,  but  full  of  manly  vigor  and  golden  thought. 


CHAP.  H.    POWER   OF   MONEY   OVER-ESTIMATED.         305 

night,  inserts  his  paw,  and  grasps  his  booty.  He  tries 
to  draw  it  back,  but  it  is  clenched,  and  he  has  not  the 
wisdom  to  unclench  it.  So  there  he  stands  till  morn- 
ing, when  he  is  caught,  looking  as  foolish  as  may  be, 
though  with  the  prize  in  his  grasp.  The  moral  of  this 
little  story  is  capable  of  a  very  extensive  application  in 
life. 

The  power  of  money  is  on  the  whole  over-estimated. 
The  greatest  things  which  have  been  done  for  the  world 
have  not  been  accomplished  by  rich  men,  or  by  subscrip- 
tion lists,  but  by  men  generally  of  small  pecuniary  means. 
Christianity  was  propagated  over  half  the  world  by  men 
of  the  poorest  class ;  and  the  greatest  thinkers,  discov- 
erers, inventors,  and  artists,  have  been  men  of  moderate 
wealth,  many  of  them  little  raised  above  the  condition 
of  manual  laborers  in  point  of  worldly  circumstances. 
And  it  will  always  be  so.  Riches  are  oftener  an  im- 
pediment than  a  stimulus  to  action ;  and  in  many  cases 
they  are  quite  as  much  a  misfortune  as  a  blessing.  The 
youth  who  inherits  wealth,  is  apt  to  have  life  made  too 
easy  for  him,  and  he  soon  grows  sated  with  it,  because 
he  has  nothing  left  to  desire.  Having  no  special  object 
to  struggle  for,  he  finds  time  hang  heavy  on  his  hands ; 
he  remains  morally  and  spiritually  asleep ;  and  his  posi- 
tion in  society  is  often  no  higher  than  that  of  a  polypus 
over  which  the  tide  floats. 

"  His  only  labor  is  to  kill  the  time, 
And  labor  dire  it  is,  and  weary  woe." 

Yet  the  rich  man,  inspired  by  a  right  spirit,  will  spurn 
idleness  as  unmanly ;  and  if  he  bethink  him  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities which  attach  to  the  possession  of  wealth 
and  property,  he  will  feel  even  a  higher  call  to  work 
than  men  of  poorer  lot.  This,  however,  must  be  ad- 


306  TRUE  RESPECTABILITY.  CHAP.  IX. 

milled  to  be  by  no  means  the  practice  of  life.  The  gold- 
en mean  of  Agur's  perfect  prayer,  is,  perhaps,  the  best 
lot  of  all,  if  we  did  but  know  it :  "  Give  me  neither  pov- 
erty nor  riches ;  feed  me  with  food  convenient  for  me." 
The  late  Joseph  Brotherton  left  a  fine  motto  to  be  re- 
corded upon  his  monument  in  the  Peel  Park  at  Man- 
chester,—  the  declaration  in  his  case  being  strictly  true: 
"  My  richness  consisted  not  in  the  greatness  of  my  posses- 
sions, but  in  the  smallness  of  my  wants."  He  rose,  as 
we  have  seen,  from  the  humblest  station,  that  of  a  fac- 
tory boy,  to  an  eminent  position  of  usefulness,  by  the 
simple  exercise  of  homely  honesty,  industry,  punctuah'ty, 
and  self-denial.  Down  to  the  close  of  his  life,  when  not 
attending  Parliament,  he  did  duty  as  minister  in  a  small 
chapel  in  Manchester  to  which  he  was  attached ;  and  in 
all  things  he  made  it  appear,  to  those  who  knew  him  in 
private  life,  that  the  glory  he  sought  was  not  "  to  be  seen 
of  men,"  or  to  excite  their  praise,  but  to  earn  the  con 
sciousness  of  discharging  the  every-day  duties  of  life 
down  to  the  smallest  and  humblest  of  them,  in  an  honest 
upright,  truthful,  and  loving  spirit. 

"  Respectability,"  in  its  best  sense,  is  good.  The  re- 
spectable man  is  one  worthy  of  regard,  literally  worth  turn 
ing  back  to  look  at.  But  the  respectability  that  consists  ic 
merely  keeping  up  appearances  is  not  worth  looking  at  ic 
any  sense.  Far  better  and  more  respectable  is  the  good 
poor  man  than  the  bad  rich  one, —  better  the  humble  silent 
man  than  the  agreeable  well-appointed  rogue,  who  keeps 
his  gig.  A  well-balanced  and  well-stored  mind,  a  life  full 
of  useful  purpose,  whatever  the  position  occupied  in  i. 
may  be,  —  is  of  far  greater  importance  than  average 
worldly  respectability.  The  highest  object  of  life  we  take 
to  be,  to  form  a  manly  character,  and  to  work  out  the  best 


CHAP.  IX.  TRUE  RESPECTABILITY.  307 

development  possible,  of  body  and  spirit,  —  of  mind,  con- 
science, heart,  and  soul.  This  is  the  end ;  all  else  ought 
to  be  regarded  but  as  the  means.  Accordingly,  that  is 
not  the  most  successful  life  in  which  a  man  gets  the  most 
pleasure,  the  most  money,  the  most  power  or  place, 
honor  or  fame ;  but  that  in  which  a  man  gets  the  most 
manhood,  and  performs  the  greatest  amount  of  useful 
work  and  of  human  duty.  Money  is  power  after  its 
sort,  it  is  true ;  but  intelligence,  public  spirit,  and  moral 
virtue,  are  powers  too,  and  far  nobler  ones.  "  Let  others 
plead  for  pensions,"  wrote  Lord  Collingwood  to  a  friend ; 
"  I  can  be  rich  without  money,  by  endeavoring  to  be  su- 
perior to  everything  poor.  I  would  have  my  services  to 
my  country  unstained  by  any  interested  motive  ;  and  old 
Scott  *  and  I  can  go  on  in  our  cabbage-garden  without 
much  greater  expense  than  formerly."  On  another  occa- 
sion he  said,  "  I  have  motives  for  my  conduct  which  I 
would  not  give  in  exchange  for  a  hundred  pensions." 

The  making  of  a  fortune  may  no  doubt  enable  some 
people  to  "  enter  society,"  as  it  is  called ;  but  to  be  es- 
teemed there,  they  must  possess  qualities  of  mind,  manners, 
or  heart,  else  they  are  merely  rich  people,  nothing  more. 
There  are  men  "  in  society "  now,  as  rich  as  Croesus, 
who  have*  no  consideration  extended  towards  them,  and 
elicit  no  respect.  For  why  ?  They  are  but  as  money- 
bags .  their  only  power  is  in  their  till.  The  men  of 
mark  in  society,  —  the  guides  and  rulers  of  opinion,  — 
the  really  successful  and  useful  men,  —  are  not  necessa- 

#  His  old  gardener.  Collingwood's  favorite  amusement  was  gar- 
dening. Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Trafalgar  a  brother  admiral  called 
upon  him,  and,  after  searching  for  his  lordship  all  over  the  garden,  he 
at  last  discovered  him,  with  old  Scott,  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep  trench 
Which  they  were  busily  employed  in  digging. 


308  TRUE  RESPECTABILITY.  CHAP.  IX. 

rily  rich  men  ;  but  men  of  sterling  character,  of  disciplined 
experience,  and  of  moral  excellence.  Even  the  poor 
man  like  Thomas  Wright,  though  he  possess  but  little 
of  this  world's  goods,  may,  in  the  self-consciousness  of 
a  well-cultivated  nature,  of  opportunities  used  and  not 
abused,  of  a  life  spent  to  the  best  of  his  means  and  abil- 
ity, look  down,  without  the  slightest  feeling  of  envy,  upon 
the  person  of  mere  worldly  success,  the  man  of  money- 
bags and  acres. 


CHAP.  X.  PHYSICAL  CULTURE.  309 


CHAPTER  X. 

SELF-CULTURE. 

"Every  person  has  two  educations,  one  which  he  receives  from  others,  and 
ane,  more  important,  which  he  gives  to  himself."  —  Gibbon. 

"  These  two  things,  contradictory  as  they  may  seem,  must  go  together,  — 
manly  dependence  and  manly  independence,  manly  reliance  and  manly  self- 
reliance."—  Wordsworth. 

SELF-CULTURE  includes  the  education  or  training  of 
all  parts  of  a  man's  nature ;  the  physical  and  moral,  as 
well  as  the  intellectual.  Each  must  be  developed,  and 
yet  each  must  yield  something  to  satisfy  the  claims  of 
the  others.  Cultivate  the  physical  powers  exclusively, 
and  you  have  an  athlete  or  a  savage;  the  moral  only, 
and  you  have  an  enthusiast  or  a  maniac ;  the  intellectual 
only,  and  you  have  a  diseased  oddity,  it  may  be  a  mon- 
ster. It  is  only  by  wisely  training  all  three  together  that 
the  complete  man  can  be  formed. 

The  ancients  laid  great  stress  on  physical  training,  and 
a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body  was  the  end  which  they 
professed  to  aim  at  in  their  highest  schools  of  culture. 
The  Greek  teachers  were  peripatetic,  holding  that  young 
men  should  only  learn  what  they  could  learn  standing. 
The  old  English  entertained  a  similar  idea,  embodied  in 
the  maxim,  "  The  field  in  summer,  the  study  in  winter." 
Milton  described  himself  as  up  and  stirring  early  in  the 
morning,  — "  in  winter,  often  ere  the  sound  of  any  bell 
wakes  man  to  labor  or  devotion ;  in  summer,  as  oft  with 


310  NEGLECT   OF  BODILY  EXERCISE.        CHAP.  X. 

the  bird  that  first  rouses,  or  not  much  tardier,  to  read 
good  authors,  or  to  cause  them  to  be  read  till  the  atten- 
tion be  ready,  or  memory  have  its  full  fraught ;  then, 
with  clear  and  generous  labor,  preserving  the  body's 
health  and  hardiness,  to  render  lightsome,  clear,  and  not 
lumpish  obedience  to  the  mind,  to  the  cause  of  religion, 
and  our  country's  liberty."  In  his  "  Tractate  on  Educa- 
tion "  he  recommends  the  physical  exercise  of  fencing  to 
young  men,  as  calculated  to  "  keep  them  healthy,  nimble, 
strong,  and  well  in  breath,  and  also  as  the  likeliest  means 
to  make  them  grow  large  and  tall,  and  inspire  them  with 
a  gallant  and  fearless  courage,"  and  he  further  urges  that 
they  should  "  be  practised  in  all  the  locks  and  grips  of 
wrestling,  wherein  Englishmen  were  wont  to  excel." 

In  our  day,  such  exercises  have  somewhat  fallen  into 
disrepute,  and  education  has  become  more  exclusively 
mental ;  very  much  to  the  detriment  of  the  bodily  health. 
The  brain  is  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  the  members, 
and  the  physical  is  usually  found  in  an  inverse  ratio  to 
the  intellectual  appetite.  Hence,  in  this  age  of  progress, 
we  find  so  many  stomachs  weak  as  blotting-paper, — 
hearts  indicating  "  fatty  degeneration,"  —  unused,  pithless 
hands,  calveless  legs  and  limp  bodies,  without  any  elastic 
spring  in  them.  But  it  is  not  merely  health  that  suffers 
by  neglect  and  disuse  of  the  bodily  organs.  The  mind 
itself  grows  sickly  and  distempered,  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge itself  is  impeded,  and  manhood  becomes  withered, 
twisted,  and  stunted.  It  is,  perhaps,  to  this  neglect  of 
physical  exercise  that  we  find  amongst  students  so  frequent 
a  tendency  towards  discontent,  unhappiness,  inaction,  and 
reverie,  —  displaying  itself  in  a  premature  contempt  for 
real  life,  and  disgust  at  the  beaten  tracks  of  men,  —  a 
tendency  which  in  England  has  been  called  Byronism, 


CHAP.  X.  MANLY  SPORTS.  311 

and  in  Germany  Wertherism.  Dr.  Channing  noted  the 
same  growth  in  America,  which  led  him  to  make  the 
remark,  that  "  too  many  of  our  young  men  grow  up  in 
a  school  of  despair."  The  only  remedy  for  this  green- 
sickness in  youth  is  abundant  physical  exercise,  —  action, 
work,  and  bodily  occupation  of  any  sort. 

Daniel  Malthus  urged  his  son  when  at  college  to  be 
most  diligent  in  the  cultivation  of  knowledge,  but  he  also 
enjoined  him  to  pursue  manly  sports  as  the  best  means 
of  keeping  up  the  full  working-power  of  his  mind,  as 
well  as  of  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  intellect.  "  Every 
kind  of  knowledge,"  said  he,  "  every  acquaintance  with 
nature  and  art,  will  amuse  and  strengthen  your  mind,  and 
I  am  perfectly  pleased  that  cricket  should  do  the  same 
by  your  arms  and  legs ;  I  love  to  see  you  excel  in  exer- 
cises of  the  body,  and  I  think  myself  that  the  better  half, 
and  much  the  most  agreeable  part,  of  the  pleasures  of 
the  mind,  is  best  enjoyed  while  one  is  upon  one's  legs." 
But  a  still  more  important  use  of  active  employment  is 
that  enforced  by  the  great  divine,  Jeremy  Taylor.  "  Avoid 
idleness,"  he  says,  "  and  fill  up  all  the  spaces  of  thy  time 
with  severe  and  useful  employment ;  for  lust  easily  creeps 
in  at  those  emptinesses  where  the  soul  is  unemployed,  and 
the  body  is  at  ease ;  for  no  easy,  healthful,  idle  person 
was  ever  chaste  if  he  could  be  tempted ;  but  of  all  em- 
ployments, bodily  labor  is  the  most  useful,  and  of  the 
greatest  benefit  for  driving  away  the  devil." 

Practical  success  in  life  depends  much  more  upon 
physical  health  than  is  generally  imagined.  Hodson,  of 
Elodson's  Horse,  writing  home  to  a  friend  in  England, 
said,  "  I  believe,  if  I  get  on  well  in  India,  it  will  be  owing, 
physically  speaking,  to  a  sound  digestion."  The  capacity 
for  continuous  working  in  any  calling  must  necessarily 


312  BOATING  AND   CRICKETING.  CHAP.  X 

mainly  depend  upon  this ;  and  hence  the  necessity  for 
attending  to  health,  even  as  a  means  of  intellectual  labor 
itself.  It  is  in  no  slight  degree  to  the  boating  and  cricket- 
ing sports,  still  cultivated  at  our  best  public  schools  and 
universities,  that  they  produce  so  many  specimens  of 
healthy,  manly,  and  vigorous  men,  of  the  true  Hodson 
stamp.  It  is  said  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  when 
once  looking  on  at  the  boys  engaged  in  their  sports  in  the 
play-ground  at  Eton,  where  he  had"  spent  his  own  juvenile 
days,  made  the  pregnant  remark,  "  It  was  there  that  the 
battle  of  Waterloo  was  won  !  " 

The  cultivation  of  muscularity  may  doubtless  be  over- 
estimated ;  yet  it  is  unquestionably  important  that  every 
young  man  should  be  early  trained  to  the  free  use  of  his 
body  and  limbs.  This,  however,  is  one  of  the  "  common 
things  "  in  modern  education  which  is  apt  to  be  neglected. 
There  are  many  youths  who  leave  school  and  college  full 
of  the  learning  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans,  who, 
as  regards  the  use  of  their  own  hands,  are  almost  help- 
less. In  gerunds  and  participles  the  mere  student  may 
be  profound,  but  in  the  use  of  his  eyes,  —  in  the  faculty 
of  common  observation,  —  he  may  be  inferior  to  a 
ploughman.  Though  he  may  have  taken  the  highest 
honors,  he  will  sometimes,  in  common  matters,  be  found 
beneath  the  level  of  the  smith,  the  carpenter,  or  the  navvy. 
"  At  sea  he  is  a  landlubber,  in  the  country  a  cockney,  in 
town  a  greenhorn,  in  science  an  ignoramus,  in  business  a 
simpleton,  in  pleasure  a  milksop,  —  everywhere  out  of 
his  element,  everywhere  at  sea,  in  the  clouds,  adrift,  or 
by  whatever  words  utter  ignorance  and  incapacity  are  to 
be  described."  * 

Perhaps,  as  educators  grow  wiser,  they  may  become 

*  Article  in  the  "  Times." 


CHAP.  X.  USES  OF   MECHANICAL  WORK.  313 

more  practical,  and  recognize  as  among  the  chief  objects 
of  education,  to  fit  men  for  actual  life,  and  enable  them  to 
understand  and  take  part  in  the  daily  business  of  com- 
mon men.  Nor  would  the  education  of  youths  in  common 
things  be  found  incompatible  with  the  very  highest  intel- 
lectual culture,  but  the  reverse.  Even  some  training  in 
the  use  of  tools  in  a  workshop,  for  instance,  would  be 
found  a  good  adjunct  to  education,  —  for  it  would  teach 
young  men  the  use  of  their  hands  and  arms,  familiarize 
them  with  healthy  work,  exercise  their  faculties  upon 
things  tangible  and  actual,  give  them  some  practical 
acquaintance  with  mechanics,  impart  to  them  the  ability 
of  being  useful,  and  implant  in  them  the  habit  of  perse- 
vering physical  effort.  This  is  an  advantage  which  the 
working  classes,  strictly  so  called,  certainly  possess  over 
the  leisure  classes,  —  that  they  are  in  early  life  under 
the  necessity  of  applying  themselves  laboriously  to  some 
mechanical  pursuit  or  other,  —  thus  acquiring  manual 
dexterity  and  the  use  of  their  physical  powers.  The 
chief  disadvantage  attached  to  the  calling  of  the  laborious 
classes  is,  not  that  they  are  employed  in  physical  work, 
but  that  they  are  too  exclusively  so  employed,  often  to 
the  neglect  of  their  moral  and  intellectual  faculties. 
While  the  youths  of  the  leisure  classes,  having  been 
taught  to  associate  labor  with  servility,  have  shunned  it, 
and  been  allowed  to  grow  up  practically  ignorant,  the 
poorer  classes,  confining  themselves  within  the  circle  of 
their  laborious  callings,  have  been  allowed  to  grow  up  in 
a  large  proportion  of  cases  absolutely  illiterate.  It  seems 
possible,  however,  to  avoid  both  these  evils  by  combining 
physical  training  or  physical  work  with  intellectual  cul- 
ture ;  and  there  are  various  signs  abroad  which  seem  to 
mark  the  gradual  adoption  of  this  healthier  system  of 

education. 

14 


314  BOYHOOD    OF  ISAAC  NEWTON.          CHAP.  X 

The  use  of  early  labor  in  self-imposed  mechanical  em 
ployments  is  curiously  illustrated  by  the  boyhood  of  Sii 
Isaac  Newton.  Though  a  comparatively  dull  scholar,  he 
was  most  assiduous  in  the  use  of  his  saw,  hammer,  and 
hatchet,  —  "  knocking  and  hammering  in  his  lodging- 
room," —  making  models  of  windmills,  carriages,  and 
machines  of  all  sorts ;  and  as  he  grew  older,  he  took  de- 
light in  making  little  tables  and  cupboards  for  his  friends. 
Smeaton,  Watt,  and  Stephenson,  were  equally  handy 
with  tools  when  mere  boys  ;  and  but  for  such  kind  of 
self-culture  in  their  youth,  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
would  have  accomplished  so  much  in  their  manhood. 
Such  was  also  the  early  training  of  the  great  inventors 
and  mechanics  described  in  the  preceding  pages,  whose 
contrivance  and  intelligence  were  practically  trained  by 
the  constant  use  of  their  hands  in  early  life.  Even  whero 
men  belonging  to  the  manual  labor  class  have  risen  above 
it,  and  become  more  purely  intellectual  laborers,  they 
have  found  the  advantages  of  their  early  training  in 
their  later  pursuits.  Elihu  Burritt  even  found  hard 
labor  necessary  to  enable  him  to  study  with  effect ;  and 
more  than  once  he  gave  up  school-keeping  and  study, 
and  taking  to  his  leather  apron  again,  went  back  to  his 
blacksmith's  forge  and  anvil,  for  his  health  of  body  and 
mind's  sake. 

The  same  view  was  well  urged  by  Mr.  R.  M.  Milnes, 
M.  P.,  at  a  recent  meeting  of  a  mechanics'  institute.  "  He 
believed,"  he  said,  "  that  the  habit  of  mechanical  work,  — 
precise,  earnest,  industrious,  good,  mechanical  work, — 
would  best  lead  men  on  to  good  mental  and  intellectual 
work.  A  good  workman  in  the  materials  of  life  would,  if 
he  had  the  talent,  be  a  good  workman  in  the  materials  of 
the  mind ;  and  thus  it  was  that  they  found  that  the  most 


CHAP.  X.      CULTIVATED   PHYSICAL  STRENGTH.  315 

remarkable  men  who  had  risen  from  the  lower  ranks  of 
society,  had  not  risen  from  those  who  had  abstained  from 
work,  but  from  those  who  had  been  the  most  industrious, 
the  most  active,  and  the  most  intelligent  in  their  own  me- 
chanical occupations.  There  were  two  things  which 
operated  against  young  men  advancing  in  intellectual 
progress,  —  over- work  and  under- work.  He  thought  it 
no  disadvantage  whatever  to  a  man's  intellectual  progress 
to  have  something  else  to  do ;  and  if  they  looked  at  the 
upper  classes  of  society  they  would  find  it  was  equally 
true  in  their  case  as  it  was  in  their  own,  —  namely,  that 
the  man  who  had  the  most  active  occupation  was  the 
man  who  in  public  life  the  most  distinguished  himself, 
and  became  the  most  useful  to  his  country." 

The  success  even  of  professional  men  depends  in  no 
slight  degree  on  their  organic  stamina  and  cultivated 
physical  strength.  Thus  a  well-developed  thorax  is  con- 
sidered almost  as  indispensable  to  the  successful  lawyer 
or  politician  as  a  well-cultured  intellect.  The  thorough 
aeration  of  the  blood,  by  free  exposure  to  a  large  breath- 
ing surface  in  the  lungs,  is  necessary  to  maintain  that  full 
vital  power  on  which  the  vigorous  working  of  the  brain 
in  so  large  a  measure  depends.  The  lawyer  has  to  climb 
the  heights  of  his  profession  through  close  and  heated 
courts,  and  the  political  leader  has  to  bear  the  fatigue  and 
excitement  of  long  and  anxious  debates  in  a  crowded 
House.  Hence  the  lawyer  in  full  practice,  and  the  par- 
liamentary leader  in  full  work,  are  called  upon  to  display 
powers  of  physical  endurance  and  activity  even  more 
extraordinary  than  those  of  the  intellect,  —  such  powers 
as  have  been  exhibited  in  so  remarkable  a  degree  b;y 
Brougham,  Lyndhurst,  and  Campbell ;  by  Peel,  Graham, 
and  Palmerston,  —  all  full-chebted  men, 


316  CULTIVATED  PHYSICAL  STRENGTH.     CHAP.  X 

The  marvellous  and  still  juvenile  vitality  of  Lord  Pal- 
merston  has  long  been  matter  of  surprise.  But  it  was 
his  pride  and  pleasure  as  a  youth,  to  be  the  best  rower, 
jumper,  and  runner;  to  be  first  in  the  sports  of  the  field 
as  he  has  since  been  first  in  the  senate ;  and  to  this  day 
his  horse  and  gun  are  invariably  resorted  to  in  his  hours 
of  relaxation.  As  for  Lord  Brougham,  legends  of  his 
enormous  powers  of  labor  and  triumphs  over  the  frail 
physique  of  humanity,  have  gathered  round  him  like  a 
Hercules;  and  with  reference  to  him  and  others  of  his 
class,  the  observation  of  a  public  writer  *  is  doubtless  in 
a  great  measure  true,  —  that  "  the  greatness  of  our  great 
men  is  quite  as  much  a  bodily  affair  as  a  mental  one." 
It  is  in  the  physical  man  that  the  moral  as  well  as  the 
intellectual  man  lies  hid;  and  it  is  through  the  bodily 
organs  that  the  soul  itself  works.  The  body,  as  old  Bur- 
ton says,  "  is  domicilium  animce,  her  home,  abode,  and 
stay;  and,  as  a  torch  gives  a  better  light,  a  sweeter 
smell,  according  to  the  matter  it  is  made  of,  so  doth  our 
soul  perform  all  her  actions  better  or  worse,  as  her  or- 
gans are  disposed ;  or,  as  wine  savors  of  the  cask  wherein 
it  is  kept,  the  soul  receives  a  tincture  from  the  body, 
through  which  it  works." 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  when  attending  the  University  at 
Edinburgh,  though  he  went  by  the  name  of  "  The  Great 
Blockhead,"  was,  notwithstanding  his  lameness,  a  remark- 
ably healthy  youth,  and  could  spear  a  salmon  with  the 
best  fisher  on  the  Tweed,  or  ride  a  wild  horse  with  any 
hunter  in  Yarrow.  When  devoting  himself  in  after-life 
to  literary  pursuits,  Sir  Walter  never  lost  his  taste  for 
field-sports ;  but  while  writing  "  Waverley  "  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  would  in  the  afternoon  course  hares.  Professor 
*  The  "  Times.'* 


CHAP.  X.  SUSTAINED  APPLICATION.  3l  7 

Wilson  was  a  very  athlete,  as  great  at  throwing  the  ham- 
mer as  in  his  flights  of  eloquence  and  poetry ;  and  Burns, 
when  a  youth,  was  remarkable  chiefly  for  his  leaping, 
putting,  and  wrestling.  Some  of  our  greatest  divines 
were  distinguished  in  their  youth  for  their  physical 
energies.  Isaac  Barrow,  when  at  the  Charterhouse 
School,  was  notorious  for  his  pugilistic  encounters,  in 
which  he  got  many  a  bloody  nose ;  Andrew  Fuller,  when 
working  as  a  farmer's  lad  at  Soham,  was  chiefly  famous 
for  his  skill  in  boxing ;  and  Adam  Clarke,  when  a  boy, 
was  only  remarkable  for  the  strength  displayed  by  him 
in  "  rolling  large  stones  about ; "  the  secret,  possibly,  of 
some  of  the  power  which  he  subsequently  displayed  in 
rolling  forth  large  thoughts  in  his  manhood. 

While  it  is  necessary,  then,  in  the  first  place  to  secure 
this  solid  foundation  of  physical  health,  it  must  also  be 
observed  that  sustained  application  is  the  inevitable  price 
which  must  be  paid  for  mental  acquisitions  of  all  sorts ; 
and  it  is  as  futile  to  expect  them  without  it,  as  to  look  for 
a  harvest  where  the  seed  has  not  been  sown.  The  road 
into  knowledge  is  free  to  all  who  will  give  the  labor  and 
the  study  requisite  to  gather  it ;  nor  are  there  any  diffi- 
culties so  great  that  the  student  of  resolute  purpose  may 
not  effectually  surmount  and  overcome  them.  It  was  one 
of  the  characteristic  expressions  of  Chatterton,  that  God 
had  sent  his  creatures  into  the  world  with  arms  long 
enough  to  reach  anything,  if  they  chose  to  be  at  the 
trouble.  In  study,  as  in  business,  energy  is  the  great 
thing.  There  must  be  the  "  fervet  opus,"  —  we  must  not 
only  strike  the  iron  while  it  is  hot,  but  strike  it  till  it  is 
made  hot.  The  proverb  says,  "  He  who  has  heart  has 
everything ; "  and  Che  non  arde  non  incende,  Who  doth 
not  burn  doth  not  inflame.  It  is  astonishing  how  much 


318  WELL-DIRECTED  LAB  OK.  CHAP.  X. 

may  be  accomplished  in  self-culture  by  the  energetic  and 
the  persevering,  who  are  careful  to  avail  themselves  of 
opportunities,  and  use  up  the  fragments  of  spare  time 
which  the  idle  permit  to  run  to  waste.  Thus  Ferguson 
learned  astronomy  from  the  heavens,  while  wrapped  in  a 
sheepskin  on  the  highland  hills.  Thus  Stone  learned 
mathematics  while  working  as  a  journeyman  gardener ; 
thus  Drew  studied  the  highest  philosophy  in  the  intervals 
of  cobbling  shoes ;  thus  Miller  taught  himself  geology 
while  working  as  a  day-laborer  in  a  quarry.  By  bring- 
ing their  mind  to  bear  upon  knowledge  in  its  various 
aspects,  and  carefully  using  up  the  very  odds  and  ends  of 
their  time,  —  men  such  as  these,  in  the  very  humblest 
circumstances,  reached  the  highest  culture,  and  acquired 
honorable  distinction  amongst  their  fellow-men. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
was  so  earnest  a  believer  in  the  power  of  industry,  that 
he  held  that  all  men  might  achieve  excellence  if  they 
would  but  exercise  the  power  of  assiduous  and  patient 
working.  He  held  that  drudgery  was  on  the  road  of 
genius,  and  that  there  were  no  limits  to  the  proficiency 
of  an  artist  except  the  limits  of  his  own  painstaking. 
He  would  not  believe  in  what  is  called  inspiration,  but 
only  in  study  and  labor.  "  Excellence,"  he  said,  "  is 
never  granted  to  man  but  as  the  reward  of  labor."  If 
you  have  great  talents,  industry  will  improve  them ;  if 
you  have  but  moderate  abilities,  industry  will  supply  their 
deficiency.  Nothing  is  denied  to  well-directed  labor ; 
nothing  is  to  be  obtained  without  it."  Sir  Fowell  Bux- 
ton,  who  labored  in  a  very  different  field,  was  an  equal 
believer  in  the  power  of  study ;  and  he  entertained  the 
modest  idea  that  he  could  do  as  well  as  other  men  if  he 
devoted  to  the  pursuit  double  the  time  and  labor  that  they 


CHAP.  X.   THOROUGHNESS  AND  ACCURACY.      319 

did.  He  placed  his  great  confidence  only  in  ordinary 
means,  and  extraordinary  application.  Genius,  without 
work,  is  certainly  a  dumb  oracle;  and  it  is  unquestion- 
ably true,  that  the  men  of  the  highest  genius  have 
invariably  been  found  to  be  amongst  the  most  plodding, 
hard-working,  and  intent  men,  —  their  chief  character- 
istic apparently  consisting  simply  in  their  power  of  labor- 
ing more  intensely  and  effectively  than  others. 

Thoroughness  and  accuracy  are  two  principal  points  to 
be  aimed  at  in  study.  Francis  Horner,  in  laying  down 
rules  for  the  cultivation  of  his  mind  and  character,  placed 
great  stress  upon  the  habit  of  continuous  application  to 
one  subject  for  the  sake  of  mastering  it  thoroughly  ;  con- 
fining himself,  with  this  object,  to  but  a  few  books,  and 
resisting  with  the  greatest  firmness  "  every  approach  to  a 
habit  of  desultory  reading."  The  value  of  knowledge  to 
any  man  certainly  consists  not  in  its  quantity^  but  mainly 
in  the  good  uses  to  which  he  may  apply  it.  Hence  a 
little  knowledge,  of  an  exact  and  perfect  character,  is 
always  found  more  valuable  for  practical  purposes  than 
any  extent  of  superficial  learning.  The  phrase  in  com- 
mon use,  as  to  "  the  spread  of  knowledge  "  at  this  day,  is 
no  doubt  correct,  but  it  is  spread  so  widely,  and  in  such 
thin  layers,  that  it  only  serves  to  reveal  the  mass  of  igno- 
rance lying  beneath.  Never  perhaps  were  books  more 
extensively  read,  or  less  studied  ;  and  the  number  is  rap- 
idly increasing  of  those  who  know  a  little  of  everything, 
but  nothing  well.  Such  readers  have  not  inaptly  been 
likened  to  a  certain  sort  of  pocket-knife  which  some  peo- 
ple carry  about  with  them,  which,  in  addition  to  a  common 
knife,  contains  a  file,  a  chisel,  a  saw,  a  gimlet,  a  screw- 
Iriver,  and  a  pair  of  scissors,  but  all  so  diminutive,  that 
the  moment  they  are  needed  for  use,  they  are  found 
useless. 


320  DEFINITE  OBJECTS  OF  STUDY.          CHAP.  X. 

One  of  Ignatius  Loyola's  maxims  was,  "  He  who  does 
well  one  work  at  a  time,  does  more  than  all."  By  spread- 
ing our  efforts  over  too  large  a  surface  we  inevitably 
weaken  our  force,  hinder  our  progress,  and  acquire  a 
habit  of  fitfulness  and  ineffective  working.  Whatever 
a  youth  undertakes  to  learn,  he  should  not  be  suffered 
to  leave  it  until  he  can  reach  his  arms  round  it  and 
clench  his  hands  on  the  other  side.  Thus  he  will  learn 
the  habit  of  thoroughness.  Lord  St.  Leonards  once  com- 
municated to  Sir  Fowell  Buxton  the  mode  in  which  he 
had  conducted  his  studies,  and  thus  explained  the  secret 
of  his  success.  "  I  resolved,"  said  he,  "  when  beginning 
to  read  law,  to  make  everything  I  acquired  perfectly  my 
own,  and  never  to  go  to  a  second  thing  till  I  had  entirely 
accomplished  the  first.  Many  of  my  competitors  read  as 
much  in  a  day  as  I  read  in  a  week ;  but,  at  the  end  of 
twelve  months,  my  knowledge  was  as  fresh  as  the  day  it 
was  acquired,  while  theirs  had  glided  away  from  recollec- 
tion." Sir  E.  B.  Lytton,  once  explaining  how  it  was  that, 
whilst  so  fully  engaged  in  active  life,  he  had  written  so 
many  books,  observed,  "I  contrive  to  do  so  much  by 
never  doing  too  much  at  a  time.  As  a  general  rule,  I 
have  devoted  to  study  not  more  than  three  hours  a  day  ; 
and,  when  Parliament  is  sitting,  not  always  that.  But 
then,  during  those  hours,  I  have  given  my  whole  atten- 
tion to  what  I  was  about." 

It  is  not  the  quantity  of  study  that  one  gets  through, 
or  the  amount  of  reading,  that  makes  a  wise  man  ;  but 
the  appositeness  of  the  study  to  the  purpose  for  which  it 
is  pursued;  the  concentration  of  the  mind  for  the  time 
being,  upon  the  subject  under  consideration ;  and  the 
habitual  discipline  by  which  the  whole  system  of  mental 
application  is  regulated.  Abernethy  was  even  of  opinion 


V,HAP.  X-        EVILS  OF  WANT  OF   CONFIDENCE.  321 

that  there  was  a  point  of  saturation  in  his  own  mind,,  and 
that  if  he  took  into  it  something  more  than  it  could  hold, 
it  only  had  the  effect  of  pushing  something  else  out. 
Speaking  of  the  study  of  medicine,  he  said,  "  If  a  man 
has  a  clear  idea  of  what  he  desires  to  do,  he  will  seldom 
fail  in  selecting  the  proper  means  of  accomplishing  it." 
The  most  profitable  study  is  that  which  is  conducted  with 
a  definite  and  specific  object,  —  all  observation,  reflection, 
and  reading,  being  directed  upon  it  for  the  time  being. 
By  thoroughly  mastering  any  given  branch  of  knowledge, 
we  render  it  much  more  available  for  use  at  any  moment. 
Hence  it  is  not  enough  merely  to  have  books,  or  to  know 
where  to  read  up  for  information  as  we  want  it.  Prac- 
tical wisdom,  for  the  purposes  of  life,  must  be  carried 
about  with  us,  and  be  ready  for  use  at  call.  It  is  not 
sufficient  that  we  have  a  fund  laid  up  at  home,  but  not  a 
farthing  in  the  pocket ;  we  must  carry  about  with  us  a 
store  of  the  current  coin  of  knowledge  ready  for  exchange 
on  all  occasions,  else  we  are  comparatively  helpless  when 
the  opportunity  for  action  occurs. 

Decision  and  promptitude  are  as  requisite  in  self-cul- 
ture as  in  business.  The  growth  of  these  qualities  may 
be  encouraged  by  accustoming  young  people  to  rely  upon 
their  own  resources,  leaving  them  to  enjoy  as  much  free- 
dom of  action  in  early  life  as  is  practicable.  Too  much 
guidance  and  restraint  hinder  the  formation  of  habits  of 
self-help.  They  are  like  bladders  tied  under  the  arms 
of  one  who  has  not  taught  himself  to  swim.  Want  of 
confidence  is  perhaps  a  greater  obstacle  to  improvement 
than  is  generally  imagined.  True  modesty  is  quite  com- 
patible with  a  due  estimate  of  one's  own  merits,  and  does 
not  demand  the  abnegation  of  all  merit.  Though  there 
are  no  doubt  many  conceited  persons  who  deceive  them- 


322  IMPATIENCE   OF  STUDY.  CHAP.  X 

selves  by  putting  a  false  figure  before  their  ciphers,  the 
want  of  confidence,  the  want  of  faith  in  one's  self,  and 
consequently  the  want  of  promptitude  in  action,  is  a  de- 
fect of  character  which  is  found  to  stand  very  much  in 
the  way  of  individual  advancement.  It  has  been  said 
that  half  the  failures  in  life  arise  from  pulling  in  one's 
horse  while  he  is  leaping.  Dr.  Johnson  was  accustomed 
to  attribute  all  his  success  to  confidence  in  his  own  powers. 
It  is  indeed  very  often  the  case  that  the  reason  why  so 
little  is  done,  is  because  so  little  is  attempted,  —  that  we 
do  not  succeed,  simply  because  we  persist  in  standing  in 
our  own  light.  One  step  out  of  the  way  might  help  us, 
but  that  one  step  we  do  not  take. 

There  is  no  want  of  desire  on  the  part  of  most  persons 
at  this  day  to  arrive  at  the  results  of  self-culture,  but 
there  is  a  great  aversion  to  pay  the  inevitable  price  for 
it,  of  hard  work.  Dr.  Johnson  held  that  "  impatience  of 
study  was  the  mental  disease  of  the  present  generation ;  " 
and  the  remark  is  still  applicable.  We  may  not  believe 
that  there  is  a  royal  road  to  learning,  but  we  seem  to  be- 
lieve very  firmly  in  a  "  popular  "  one.  In  education,  we 
invent  labor-saving  processes,  seek  short  cuts  to  science, 
learn  French  and  Latin  "  in  twelve  lessons,"  or  "  without 
a  master."  We  resemble  the  lady  of  fashion,  who  en- 
gaged a  master  to  teach  her  on  condition  that  he  did  not 
plague  her  with  verbs  and  participles.  We  get  our 
smattering  of  science  in  the  same  way :  we  learn  chemis- 
try by  listening  to  a  short  course  of  lectures  enlivened  by 
experiments,  and  when  we  have  inhaled  laughing  gas, 
seen  green  water  turned  to  red,  and  phosphorus  burnt 
in  oxygen,  we  have  got  our  smattering,  of  which  the  most 
that  can  be  said  is,  that  though  it  may  be  better  than 
nothing,  it  is  yet  good  for  nothing.  Thus  we  often 


CHAP.  X.   LABOK-SAVING  PROCESSES  FALLACIOUS.     323 

imagine  we  are  being  educated  while  we  are  only  being 
amused. 

But  it  will  not  do  :  all  such  labor-saving  processes,  — • 
indeed,  all  pretended  method  j  of  insinuating  knowledge 
into  the  mind  without  study  and  labor,  —  are  calculated 
to  prove  delusive,  and  end  only  in  mortification  and  dis- 
appointment. To  be  wise  we  must  diligently  apply  our- 
selves, and  confront  the  same  continuous  application 
which  our  forefathers  did ;  for  labor  is  still,  and  ever  will 
be,  the  inevitable  price  set  upon  everything  which  is 
valuable.  We  must  be  satisfied  to  work  energetically 
with  a  purpose,  and  wait  the  results  with  patience.  Buf- 
fon  has  even  said  of  Patience,  that  it  is  Genius,  —  the 
power  of  great  men,  in  his  opinion,  consisting  mainly  in 
their  power  of  continuous  working  and  waiting.  All 
progress,  of  the  best  kind,  is  slow  ;  but  to  him  who  works 
faithfully  and  in  a  right  spirit,  be  sure  that  the  reward 
will  be  vouchsafed  in  its  own  good  time.  "  Courage  and 
industry,"  says  Sharpe,  "  must  have  sunk  in  despair,  and 
the  world  must  have  remained  unimproved  and  unorna- 
mented,  if  men  had  merely  compared  the  effect  of  a 
single  stroke  of  the  chisel  with  the  pyramid  to  be  raised, 
or  of  a  single  impression  of  the  spade  with  the  mountain 
to  be  levelled."  We  must  continuously  apply  ourselves 
to  right  pursuits,  and  we  cannot  fail  to  advance  steadily, 
though  it  may  be  unconsciously.  By  degrees,  the  spirit 
of  industry,  exercised  in  the  common  forms  of  education, 
will  be  transferred  to  objects  of  greater  dignity  and  more 
extensive  usefulness.  And  still  we  must  work  on ;  for 
ths  work  of  self-culture  is  never  finished.  "To  be  em- 
ployed," sail  the  poet  Gray,  "is  to  be  happy."  "It  is 
better  to  wear  out  than  rust  out,"  said  Bishop  Cumber- 
land. "  Have  we  not  all  eternity  to  rest  in  ?  "  exclaimed 
Arnauld. 


824  IMPATIENCE  TO   BE  AVOIDED.          CHAP.  X. 

It  is  a  mark  of  the  short-sighted  laborer  to  be  impa- 
tient of  growth.  It  must  show  itself  in  a  sensible  form, 
and  almost  at  once,  to  satisfy  him.  Like  little  children, 
eager  to  see  their  seeds  growing,  he  will  pull  his  plants 
up  to  see  what  progress  they  are  making,  and  so  kill 
them.  But  man  who  plants  and  sows,  must  wait  in 
patience  and  in  faith,  —  faith  in  the  bountiful  spring,  and 
summer,  and  autumn,  which  will  follow.  He  must  some- 
times even  content  himself  with  the  thought  that  his 
children  shall  enjoy  the  fruits.  Some  young  men,  in  one 
of  Lafontaine!s  fables,  ridicule  an  old  patriarch  of  four- 
score, engaged  in  planting  an  avenue  of  young  trees. 
The  youths  told  him  he  would  not  live  to  see  them  as 
high  as  his  head.  "Well,"  replied  the  aged  worker, 
"  what  of  that  ?  If  their  shade  afford  me  no  pleasure,  it 
may  afford  pleasure  to  my  children,  and  even  to  you  ; 
and  therefore,  the  planting  of  them  affords  me  pleasure." 
Not  long  ago,  a  poor  workman,  who  had  been  working  for 
the  future,  lay  dying,  his  wife  and  children  sobbing  around 
his  bed ;  the  sufferer  was  agonized  by  the  thought  of 
their  struggle  with  the  world  without  him  ;  and  the  cer- 
tainty of  that  struggle  embittered  his  last  moments.  "  My 
poor  Willy !  my  poor  Mary  I  "  he  cried  in  despair,  "  what 
will  become  of  them ! "  Consolation  was  tried,  but  for 
some  time  in  vain.  At  last  one  thoughtful  friend  said 
to  him,  hopefully,  "  Fear  not !  you  leave  to  them  a  rich 
legacy ;  rest  assured  your  teachings  will  not  be  forgotten ; 
the  seed  you  have  sown  will  not  be  lost ;  and  your  books, 
which  to  you  have  been  such  household  gods,  will  be  the 
same  to  them,  and  open  their  minds,  and  through  them 
minister  lovingly  to  the  great  God  of  all !  "  "  Oh !  peace, 
consolation,"  said  the  dying  man,  and  spake  no  more. 

The  highest  and  most  effective  culture  of  all,  resolves 


CHAP.  X.    SELF-CULTURE  THE  BEST   CULTURE.  325 

itself  into  Self-Culture.  The  education  received  at  school 
and  college  is  but  a  beginning,  and  is  mainly  valuable  in 
so  far  as  it  trains  us  in  the  habit  of  continuous  applica- 
tion, and  facilitates  self-education,  after  a  definite  plan 
and  system.  To  enable  the  mind  freely  to  exercise  its 
powers,  it  is  necessary,  even  under  the  most  thorough 
system  of  culture,  that  there  should  be  occasional  gaps 
for  its  free  operation.  Thus  left  in  some  measure  to 
find  out  what  it  can  do  and  what  it  cannot  do,  it  will 
gain  in  strength  and  activity,  and  the  evils  arising  from 
a  too  entire  dependence  on  the  teaching  of  others  will 
be  in  a  great  degree  avoided.  Often  the  best  educa- 
tion of  a  man  is  that  which  he  gives  himself,  while 
engaged  in  the  active  pursuits  of  practical  life.  Put- 
ting ideas  into  one's  head  will  do  the  head  no  good, 
no  more  than  putting  things  into  a  bag,  unless  it  re- 
act upon  them,  make  them  its  own,  and  turn  them  to 
account.  "  It  is  not  enough,"  said  John  Locke,  "  to  cram 
ourselves  with  a  great  load  of  collections  ;  unless  we 
chew  them  over  again,  they  will  not  give  us  strength  and 
nourishment."  That  which  is  put  into  us  by  others  is 
always  far  less  ours  than  that  which  we  acquire  by  our 
own  diligent  and  persevering  effort.  Knowledge  con- 
quered by  labor,  becomes  a  possession,  —  a  property  en- 
tirely our  own.  A  greater  vividness  and  permanency  of 
impression  is  secured ;  and  facts  thus  acquired  become 
registered  in  the  mind  in  a  way  that  mere  imparted  in- 
formation can  never  produce.  This  kind  of  self-culture 
also  calls  forth  power  and  cultivates  strength.  The  self- 
solution  of  one  problem  helps  the  mastery  of  another ; 
and  thus  knowledge  is  carried  into  faculty.  Our  own 
active  effort  is  the  essential  thing ;  and  no  facilities,  no 
books,  no  teachers,  no  amount  of  lessons  learned  by  rote, 


326  DR.  ARNOLD'S  TEACHING.  CHAP.  X. 

will  enable  us  to  dispense  with  it.  Such  a  spirit  infused 
into  self-culture  gives  birth  to  a  living  teaching,  which 
inspires  with  purpose  the  whole  man,  —  impressing  a 
distinct  stamp  upon  the  mind,  and  actively  promoting  the 
formation  of  principles  and  habitudes  of  conduct. 

The  best  teachers  have  been  prompt  to  recognize  the 
importance  of  self-culture,  and  of  stimulating  the  student 
early  to  accustom  himself  to  acquire  knowledge  by  the 
active  exertion  of  his  own  faculties.  They  have  relied 
more  upon  training  than  upon  telling  ;  and  sought  to 
make  their  pupils  themselves  active  parties  to  the  work 
in  which  they  were  engaged ;  thus  making  teaching  some- 
thing far  higher  than  the  mere  passive  reception  of  the 
scraps  and  details  of  knowledge.  This  was  the  spirit 
in  which  the  great  Dr.  Arnold  worked ;  he  strove  to 
teach  his  pupils  to  rely  upon  themselves,  and  to  develop 
their  own  powers,  himself  merely  guiding,  directing,  stim- 
ulating, and  encouraging  them.  "I  would  far  rather," 
he  said,  "  send  a  boy  to  Van  Diemen's  Land,  where 
he  must  work  for  his  bread,  than  send  him  to  Oxford 
to  live  in  luxury,  without  any  desire  in  his  mind  to  avail 
himself  of  his  advantages."  "  If  there  be  one  thing  on 
earth,"  he  observed  on  another  occasion,  "  which  is  truly 
admirable,  it  is  to  see  God's  wisdom  blessing  an  inferi- 
ority of  natural  powers,  when  they  have  been  honestly, 
truly,  and  zealously  cultivated."  Speaking  of  a  pupil  of 
this  character,  he  said,  "  I  would  stand  to  that  man  hat 
in  hand."  Once  at  Laleham,  when  teaching  a  rather  dull 
boy,  he  spoke  somewhat  sharply  to  him,  on  which  the 
pupil  looked  up  in  his  face  and  said,  "  Why  do  you  speak 
angrily,  sir  ?  indeed,  I  am  doing  the  best  I  can."  Years 
afterwards,  Arnold  used  to  tell  the  story  to  his  children, 
and  added,  "  I  never  felt  so  much  in  my  life,  —  that  look 
and  that  speech  I  have  never  forgotten." 


CHAP.  X.  KNOWLEDGE  AND  WISDOM.  327 

There  is  no  more  personal  merit  attaching  to  the  pos- 
session of  naturally  superior  intellectual  powers  than  in 
the  succession  to  a  large  estate.  It  is  the  use  which  is 
made  of  the  one  as  of  the  other,  which  constitutes  the 
only  just  claim  to  respect.  A  great  fund  of  knowledge 
may  be  accumulated  without  any  purpose ;  and  though  a 
source  of  pleasure  to  the  possessor,  it  may  be  of  little  use 
to  any  one  else.  It  is  not  mere  literary  culture  that  makes 
a  man.  For  it  is  possible  to  have  read  many  books  and 
waded  through  many  sciences,  and  yet  to  possess  no  sound 
intellectual  discipline ;  whilst  others,  without  any  regular 
scholastic  culture,  may,  by  the  diligent  exercise  of  their 
judgment  and  observation,  have  acquired  eminent  mental 
vigor. 

An  often  quoted  expression  at  this  day  is  that  "  Knowl- 
edge is  power;"  but  so  also  are  fanaticism,  despotism, 
and  ambition.  Knowledge  of  itself,  unless  wisely  di- 
rected, might  merely  make  bad  men  more  dangerous,  and 
the  society  in  which  it  was  regarded  as  the  highest  good, 
little  better  than  a  pandemonium.  Knowledge  must  be 
allied  to  goodness  and  wisdom,  and  embodied  in  upright 
character,  else  it  is  naught.  Pestalozzi  even  held  intel- 
lectual training  by  itself  to  be  pernicious ;  insisting  that 
the  roots  of  all  knowledge  must  strike  and  feed  in  the 
soil  of  the  religious  rightly-governed  will.  The  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  may,  it  is  true,  protect  a  man  against 
the  meaner  felonies  of  life ;  but  not  in  any  degree  against 
its  selfish  vices,  unless  fortified  by  sound  principles  and 
habits.  Hence  do  we  find  in  daily  life,  so  many  instances 
of  men  who  are  well-informed  in  intellect,  but  utterly 
deformed  in  character;  filled  with  the  learning  of  the 
schools,  yet  possessing  little  practical  wisdom,  and  offer 
ing  examples  rather  for  warning  than  imitation. 


528  LITERARY    CULTURE  OVERRATED.         CHAP.  X. 

It  is  possible  that  at  this  day  we  may  even  exagger- 
ate the  importance  of  literary  culture.  We  are  apt  to 
imagine  that  because  we  possess  many  libraries,  insti- 
tutes, and  museums,  we  are  making  great  progress.  But 
it  is  not  improbable  that  such  facilities  may  as  often  be 
a  hindrance  as  a  help  to  individual  self-culture  of  the 
highest  kind.  The  possession  of  a  library,  or  the  free 
use  of  it,  no  more  constitutes  learning,  than  the  posses- 
sion of  wealth  constitutes  generosity.  Though  we  un- 
doubtedly possess  great  facilities,  it  is  nevertheless  true, 
as  of  old,  that  wisdom  and  understanding  can  only  be- 
come the  possession  of  individual  men  by  travelling 
the  old  road  of  observation,  attention,  perseverance,  and 
industry.  The  possession  of  the  mere  materials  of 
knowledge  is  something  very  different  from  wisdom  and 
understanding,  which  are  reached  through  a  higher  kind 
of  discipline  than  that  of  reading. 

"Knowledge  dwells 

In  heads  replete  with  thoughts  of  other  men; 
Wisdom  in  minds  attentive  to  their  own. 
Knowledge,  a  rude  unprofitable  mass, 
The  mere  materials  with  which  wisdom  builds, 
Till  smoothed  and  squared,  and  fitted  to  its  place, 
Does  but  encumber,  whom  it  seems  t'  enrich." 

The  multitude  of  books  which  modern  readers  wade 
through,  may  produce  distraction  as  much  as  culture ; 
the  process  leaving  no  more  definite  impression  upon  the 
mind  than  gazing  through  the  shifting  forms  in  a  kaleido- 
scope does  upon  the  eye.  Reading  is  often  but  a  mere 
passive  reception  of  other  men's  thoughts;  there  being 
little  or  no  active  effort  of  the  mind  in  the  transaction. 
Then  how  much  of  our  reading  is  but  the  indulgence  of 
a  sort  of  literary  epicurism,  or  intellectual  dram-drinking, 


CHAP.  X.  CARLYLE'S  ADVICE.  329 

imparting  a  grateful  excitement  for  the  moment,  without 
the  slightest  effect  in  improving  and  enriching  the  mind 
or  building  up  the  character.  Thus  many  indulge  them- 
selves in  the  conceit  that  they  are  cultivating  their  minds, 
when  they  are  only  employed  in  the  humbler  occupation 
of  killing  time ;  of  which  perhaps  the  best  that  can  be 
said  is,  that  it  merely  keeps  them  from  doing  worse 
things. 

Mr.  Carlyle,  when  applied  to  by  a  young  friend  for 
advice  as  to  the  books  he  was  to  read,  wrote  him  as 
follows :  "  It  is  not  by  books  alone,  nor  by  books  chiefly, 
that  a  man  becomes  in  all  parts  a  man.  Study  to  do 
faithfully  whatsoever  thing  in  your  actual  situation,  there 
and  now,  you  find  either  expressly  or  tacitly  laid  to  your 
charge ;  that  is  your  post ;  stand  to  it  like  a  true  soldier. 
A  man  perfects  himself  by  work  much  more  than  by 
reading.  They  are  a  growing  kind  of  men  that  can 
wisely  combine  the  two  things,  —  wisely,  valiantly  can 
do  what  is  laid  to  their  hand  in  their  present  sphere, 
and  prepare  themselves  withal  for  doing  other  wider 
things,  if  such  lie  before  them." 

It  is  also  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  experience 
gathered  from  books,  though  often  valuable,  is  but  of 
the  nature  of  learning ;  whereas  the  experience  gained 
from  actual  life  is  of  the  nature  of  wisdom  ;  and  a  small 
store  of  the  latter  is  worth  vastly  more  than  any  stock 
of  the  former.  Lord  Bolingbroke  truly  said  that  "  What- 
ever study  tends  neither  directly  nor  indirectly  to  make 
us  better  men  and  citizens,  is  at  best  but  a  specious 
and  ingenious  sort  of  idleness,  and  the  knowledge  we 
acquire  by  it,  only  a  creditable  kind  of  ignorance,— 
nothing  more." 

Useful  and  instructive  though  good  reading  may  be, 


330  BOOKS  XOT  THE  BEST   TEACHERS.        CHAP.  X. 

it  is  yet  only  one  mode  of  cultivating  the  mind ;  and  is 
much  less  influential  than  practical  experience  and  good 
example  in  the  formation  of  character.  There  were 
wise,  valiant,  and  true-hearted  men  bred  in  England, 
long  before  the  existence  of  a  reading  public.  Magna 
Charta  was  secured  by  men  who  signed  the  deed  with 
their  marks.  Though  altogether  unskilled  in  the  art  of 
deciphering  the  literary  signs  by  which  principles  were 
denominated  upon  paper,  they  yet  understood  and  ap- 
preciated, and  boldly  contended  for,  the  things  them- 
selves. Thus  the  foundations  of  English  liberty  were 
laid  by  men,  who,  though  illiterate,  were  nevertheless 
of  the  very  highest  stamp  of  character.  And  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  chief  object  of  culture  is,  not  merely 
to  fill  the  mind  with  other  men's  thoughts,  —  and  to  be 
the  passive  recipients  of  their  impressions  of  things,  — 
but  to  enlarge  our  individual  intelligence,  and  render  us 
more  useful  and  efficient  workers  in  the  sphere  of  life 
to  which  we  may  be  called.  Many  of  our  most  ener- 
getic and  useful  workers  have  been  but  sparing  readers. 
Brindley  and  Stephenson  did  not  learn  to  read  and  write 
until  they  reached  manhood,  and  yet  they  did  great  works 
and  lived  manly  lives ;  John  Hunter  could  barely  read 
or  write  when  he  was  twenty  years  old,  though  he  could 
make  tables  and  chairs  with  any  carpenter  in  the  trade. 
"  I  never  read,"  said  the  great  physiologist  when  lec- 
turing before  his  class ;  "  this,"  (pointing  to  some  part 
of  the  subject  before  him,)  "  this  is  the  work  that  you 
must  study  if  you  wish  to  become  eminent  in  your  pro- 
fession." When  told  that  one  of  his  contemporaries  had 
charged  him  with  being  ignorant  of  the  dead  languages, 
he  said,  "I  would  undertake  to  teach  him  that  on  the 
dead  body  which  he  never  knew  in  any  language,  dead 
or  living." 


CHAP.  X.    THE  DISCIPLINE  OF  LIFE  AND  ACTION.       331 

It  is  not  how  much  a  man  may  know,  that  is  of  so 
much  importance,  as  the  end  and  purpose  for  which  he 
knows  it.  The  object  of  knowledge  should  be,  to  mature 
wisdom  and  improve  character,  to  render  us  better,  hap- 
pier, and  more  useful ;  more  benevolent,  more  energetic, 
and  more  efficient  in  the  pursuit  of  every  high  purpose 
in  life.  We  must  ourselves  be  and  do,  and  not  rest  satis- 
fied merely  with  reading  and  meditating  over  what  other 
men  have  written  and  done.  Our  best  light  must  be 
made  life,  and  our  best  thought  action.  The  humblest 
and  least  literate  must  train  his  sense  of  duty,  and  accus- 
tom himself  to  an  orderly  and  diligent  life.  Though 
talents  are  the  gift  of  nature,  the  highest  virtue  may  be 
acquired  by  men  of  the  humblest  abilities,  through  care- 
ful self-discipline.  At  least  we  ought  to  be  able  to  say, 
as  Eichter  did,  "  I  have  made  as  much  out  of  myself  as 
could  be  made  of  the  stuff,  and  no  man  should  require 
more."  It  is  every  man's  duty  to  discipline  and  guide 
himself,  with  God's  help,  according  to  his  responsibilities 
and  the  faculties  he  is  endowed  with.  Guided  by  the 
good  example  and  good  works  of  others,  we  must  yet 
rely  mainly  upon  our  own  inward  efforts,  and  build  upon 
our  own  foundations. 

Self-discipline  and  self-control  are  the  beginnings  of 
practical  wisdom  ;  and  these  must  have  their  root  in  self- 
respect.  Hope  springs  from  it,  —  hope,  which  is  the 
companion  of  power,  and  the  mother  of  success ;  for 
whoso  hopes  strongly  has  within  him  the  gift  of  miracles. 
The  humblest  may  say,  "  To  respect  myself,  to  develop 
myself,  —  this  is  my  true  duty  in  life.  An  integral  and 
responsible  part  of  the  great  system  of  society,  I  owe  it 
to  society  and  to  its  Author  not  to  degrade,  nor  destroy, 
\ny  body,  mind,  nor  instincts.  On  the  contrary,  I  am 


332  SELF-EESPECT.  CHAP.X. 

bound  to  the  best  of  my  power  to  give  to  those  parts  of 
my  nature  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  possible.  I 
am  not  only  to  suppress  the  evil,  but  to  evoke  the  good 
elements  in  my  nature.  And  as  I  respect  my  own 
nature,  so  am  I  equally  bound  to  respect  others,  as  they 
on  their  part  are  bound  to  respect  me."  Hence  mutual 
respect,  justice,  and  order,  of  which  law  becomes  the 
written  record  and  guarantee. 

Self-respect  is  the  noblest  garment  with  which  a  man 
may  clothe  himself,  —  the  most  elevating  feeling  with 
which  the  mind  can  be  inspired.  One  of  Pythagoras's 
wisest  maxims,  in  his  Golden  Verses,  is  that  in  which  he 
enjoins  the  pupil  to  "  reverence  himself."  Borne  up  by 
this  high  idea,  he  will  not  defile  his  body  by  sensuality, 
nor  his  mind  by  servile  thoughts.  This  sentiment,  carried 
into  daily  life,  will  be  found  at  the  root  of  all  the  virtues, 
—  cleanliness,  sobriety,  chastity,  morality,  and  religion. 
"  The  pious  and  just  honoring  of  ourselves,"  said  Milton, 
"  may  be  thought  the  radical  moisture  and  fountain-head 
from  whence  every  laudable  and  worthy  enterprise  issues 
forth."  To  think  meanly  of  one's  self,  is  to  sink  in  one's 
own  estimation  as  well  as  in  the  estimation  of  others. 
And  as  the  thoughts  are,  so  will  the  acts  be.  A  man 
cannot  live  a  high  life  who  grovels  in  a  moral  sewer  of 
his  own  thoughts.  He  cannot  aspire  if  he  look  down ; 
if  he  will  rise,  he  must  look  up.  The  very  humblest 
may  be  sustained  by  the  proper  indulgence  of  this  feel- 
ing ;  and  poverty  itself  may  be  lifted  and  lighted  up  by 
self-respect.  It  is  truly  a  noble  sight  to  see  a  poor  man 
hold  himself  upright  amidst  all  his  temptations,  and  re- 
fuse to  demean  himself  by  low  actions. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  insist  on  the  uses  of 
knowledge  as  a  means  of  "  getting  on "  in  life.  This  is 


CHAP.  X.    KNOWLEDGE  A  MEANS  OF  RISING  IN  LIFE.    333 

already  sufficiently  taught  by  obvious  self-interest;  and 
it  is  beginning  to  be  pretty  generally  understood,  that 
self-culture  is  one  of  the  best  possible  investments  of 
time  and  labor.  In  any  line  of  life,  intelligence  will 
enable  a  man  to  adapt  himself  more  readily  to  circum 
stances,  suggest  to  him  improved  methods  of  work,  and 
render  him  more  apt,  skilled,  and  effective  in  all  respects. 
He  who  works  with  his  head  as  well  as  his  hands,  will 
come  to  look  at  his  business  with  a  clearer  eye  ;  and  he 
will  become  conscious  of  increasing  power,  —  perhaps 
the  most  cheering  consciousness  the  human  mind  can 
cherish.  The  power  of  self-help  will  gradually  grow ; 
and  in  proportion  to  a  man's  self-respect,  will  he  be 
armed  against  the  temptation  of  low  indulgences.  So- 
ciety and  its  action  will  be  regarded  with  quite  a  new 
interest,  his  sympathies  will  widen  and  enlarge,  and  he 
will  be  attracted  to  work  for  others  as  well  as  for  him- 
self. 

Self-culture  may  not,  however,  end  in  eminence,  such 
as  we  have  briefly  described  in  the  numerous  illustrious 
instances  of  self-raised  individuals  above  cited.  The 
great  majority  of  men,  in  all  times,  however  enlightened, 
must  necessarily  be  engaged  in  the  ordinary  avocations 
of  industry ;  and  no  degree  of  culture  which  can  be  con- 
ferred upon  the  community  will  ever  enable  them  —  even 
were  it  desirable,  which  it  is  not  —  to  get  rid  of  the  daily 
work  of  society,  which  must  be  done.  But  this,  we  think, 
may  also  be  accomplished.  We  can  elevate  the  condition 
of  labor  by  allying  it  to  noble  thoughts,  which  confer  a 
grace  upon  the  lowliest  as  well  as  the  highest  rank.  For 
no  matter  how  poor  or  humble  a  man  may  be,  the  great 
thinker  of  this  and  other  days  may  come  in  and  sit  down 
with  him,  and  be  his  companion  for  the  time,  though  his 


334  LOW  VIEW   OF  KNOWLEDGE.  CHAP.  X. 

dwelling  be  the  meanest  hut.  It  is  thus  that  the  habit 
of  well-directed  reading  may  become  a  source  of  the 
greatest  pleasure  and  self-improvement,  and  exercise  a 
gentle  coercion,  with  the  most  beneficent  results,  over  the 
whole  tenor  of  a  man's  character  and  conduct.  And  even 
though  self-culture  may  not  bring  wealth,  it  will  at  all 
events  give  us  the  good  company  of  elevated  thoughts. 
A  nobleman  once  contemptuously  asked  of  a  sage,  "  What 
have  you  got  by  all  your  philosophy  ?  "  "  At  least  I 
have  got  society  in  myself,"  was  the  wise  man's  reply. 

But  many  are  apt  to  feel  despondency,  and  to  become 
discouraged  in  the  work  of  self-culture,  because  they  do 
not  "  get  on  "  in  the  world  so  fast  as  they  think  they 
deserve  to  do.  Having  planted  their  acorn,  they  expect 
to  see  it  grow  into  an  oak  at  once.  They  have  perhaps 
looked  upon  knowledge  in  the  light  of  a  marketable  com- 
modity, and  are  consequently  mortified  because  it  does 
not  sell  as  they  expected  it  would  do.  Mr.  Tremenheere, 
in  one  of  his  "Education  Keports  "  (for  1840-1),  states 
that  a  schoolmaster  in  Norfolk,  finding  his  school  rapidly 
falling  off,  made  inquiry  into  the  cause,  and  ascertained 
that  the  reason  given  by  the  majority  of  the  parents  for 
withdrawing  their  children  was,  that  they  had  expected 
"  education  was  to  make  them  better  off  than  they  were 
before,"  but  that  having  found  it  had  "done  them  no 
good,"  they  had  therefore  taken  their  children  from  school, 
and  would  give  themselves  no  further  trouble  about  edu- 
eation.  The  same  low  idea  of  self-culture  is  but  too  prev- 
alent in  other  classes,  and  is  encouraged  by  the  false 
views  of  life  which  are  always  more  or  less  current  in 
society.  But  to  regard  self-culture  either  as  a  means  of 
getting  past  others  in  the  world,  or  of  intellectual  dissipa- 
tion and  amusement,  rather  than  as  a  power  to  elevate 


CHAP.  X.    EVIL  OF  COMPETITIVE  EXAMINATION.         335 

the  character  and  expand  the  spiritual  nature,  is  to  place 
it  on  a  very  low  level.  It  is  doubtless  most  honorable 
for  a  man  to  labor  to  elevate  himself,  and  to  better  his 
condition  in  society,  but  this  is  not  to  be  done  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  himself.  To  make  the  mind  the  mere  drudge  of 
the  body,  is  putting  it  to  a  very  servile  use  ;  and  to  go 
about  whining  and  bemoaning  our  pitiful  lot  because  we 
fail  in  achieving  that  success  in  life,  which  after  all  de- 
pends rather  upon  habits  of  industry  and  attention  to 
business  details  than  upon  knowledge,  is  the  mark  of  a 
small,  and  often  of  a  sour  mind.  Such  a  temper  cannot 
better  be  dealt  with  than  in  the  words  of  Robert  Southey, 
who  thus  wrote  to  a  friend  who  sought  his  counsel :  "  I 
would  give  you  advice  if  it  could  be  of  use ;  but  there 
is  no  curing  those  who  choose  to  be  diseased.  A  good 
man  and  a  wise  man  may  at  times  be  angry  with  the 
world,  at  times  grieved  for  it ;  but  be  sure  no  man  was 
ever  discontented  with  the  world  if  he  did  his  duty  in  it* 
If  a  man  of  education,  who  has  health,  eyes,  hands,  and 
leisure,  wants  an  object,  it  is  only  because  God  Almighty 
has  bestowed  all  those  blessings  upon  a  man  who  does  not 
deserve  them." 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  prominence,  recently  given 
to  literary  examinations  for  small  government  offices,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  much,  may  tend  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  the  discontented,  without  any  corresponding  gain 
to  the  public  service.  The  plan  recently  established  may 
be  described  as  a  kind  of  government  lottery,  in  which 
the  prizes  are  drawn  by  those  who  are  the  best  crammed. 
Not  long  since,  when  eight  youths  were  wanted  to  do 
copying  work  in  a  public  office,  not  fewer  than  seven 
hundred  offered  themselves  for  examination  ;  eight  prizes 
to  692  blanks  !  A  most  pitiable  sight  truly,  to  see  so 


336         EVIL  OF  COMPETITIVE  EXAMINATION.    CHAP.  X. 

many  educated  young  men  eager  for  the  poorly-paid,  and 
routine,  though  "genteel"  occupation  of  a  government 
office,  when  there  are  so  many  other  paths,  though  requir- 
ing labor  and  self-denial,  open  for  the  energies  of  young 
men  of  activity  and  spirit.  Sir  James  Clarke  has  not 
inaptly  described  the  preliminary  system  of  cramming 
for  examination,  of  the  kind  to  which  these  youths  are 
required  to  submit,  as  thoroughly  demoralizing,  and  calcu- 
lated to  develop  prigs  rather  than  men.  The  mind  is  so 
overlaid  with  a  heap  of  undigested  knowledge,  that  there 
is  little  room  left  for  its  free  action ;  and  though  a  func- 
tionarism  as  complete  as  that  already  established  in  China 
may  thereby  be  secured,  it  will  probably  be  at  the  ex- 
pense of  that  constitutional  energy  and  vigor,  which  are 
so  indispensable  for  attaining  a  robust  manhood.  More- 
over, the  tendency  of  this  new  movement  seems  to  be,  to 
draw  the  educated  youth  of  the  country  aside  from  the 
paths  of  ordinary  industry,  and  direct  their  eyes  toward 
the  public  treasure  as  the  highest  object  of  their  exer- 
tions ;  whilst  beyond  all,  there  is  that  danger  to  be  ap- 
prehended, against  which  Montalembert  has  so  eloquently 
warned  us,  of  stimulating  and  propagating  the  passion  for 
salaries  and  government  employment,  which  saps  all 
national  spirit  of  independence,  and  in  some  countries 
makes  a  whole  people  a  mere  crowd  of  servile  solicitors 
for  place. 


CHAP.  XI.         FACILITIES   OF   MODERN  TIMES.  3C7 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FACILITIES    AND    DIFFICULTIES. 

"  Is  .here  (me  whom  difficulties  dishearten,  —who  bends  to  the  storm  ?  He 
will  do  little.  Is  there  one  who  will  conquer  ?  That  kind  of  man  nerer 
fails."  —  John  Hunter. 

"  C'est  des  difficultes  qui  naissent  lea  miracles."—  Bruytre. 

THIS  is  an  age  preeminently  distinguished  for  the  facil- 
ities which  it  affords  for  human  intercourse  and  the  spread 
of  knowledge.  In  travelling,  telegraphing,  printing,  and 
postal  communications,  it  surpasses  every  other.  Tons 
upon  tons  of  machine-made  paper  are  constantly  being 
converted  into  machine-printed  books  and  machine-print- 
ed newspapers,  which  are  spread  abroad  at  a  marvellously 
low  price ;  and  as  we  look  on,  we  are  accustomed  to  con- 
gratulate ourselves  upon  the  marvellous  "  progress  of  the 
age."  If  machinery  and  horse-power  of  steam  could 
accomplish  this,  our  progress  were  indeed  rapid.  But  it 
still  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  vast  amount  of 
printed  matter  in  circulation  is  calculated  to  produce 
wiser  and  better  men,  actuated  by  higher  and  more 
beneficent  principles  of  action,  than  existed  in  England 
in  times  comparatively  remote,  in  which  books  were  far 
rarer  but  much  more  highly  prized,  —  such  times,  for 
instance,  as  those  for  which  Shakspeare,  Milton,  Bacon, 
and  Jeremy  Taylor  wrote.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  acknowl- 
edged that,  though  the  multiplication  of  books  and  news- 
papers by  means  of  steam-engines  and  printing  machines 
15 


338  THE   DIVISION   OF  LABOR  CHAP.  XL 

is  accompanied  by  unquestionable  advantages,  the  facili- 
ties thereby  afforded  for  the  spread  of  knowledge  are  not 
altogether  an  unmixed  good.  It  doubtless  furnishes  un- 
precedented facilities  for  learning  many  things  easily  and 
without  effort ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  probably  tends 
rather  towards  superficialism  than  depth  or  vigor  of 
thinking;  for  while  readers  are  tempted  by  the  multi- 
tude of  books  to  skim  many  subjects,  they  may  thereby 
bo  so  distracted  by  the  variety,  as  to  be  induced  to  bottom 
none  of  them  thoroughly. 

With  all  the  facilities  which  exist  for  independent  self- 
culture,  it  is  even  suspected  that  our  life,  like  our  litera- 
ture, is  becoming  more  mechanical.  Large  and  increas- 
ing numbers  of  persons  in  our  manufacturing  districts 
occupy  the  chief  part  of  their  waking  hours  from  day  to 
day  in  watching  machines  spinning  or  winding  threads, 
the  tendency  being  to  produce  a  sort  of  mechanical  hu- 
man beings  almost  as  devoid  of  individuality  of  character 
as  the  machines  they  watch.  This  is  one  of  the  defects 
of  modern  civilization,  daily  operating  upon  large  classes 
of  the  people,  which,  in  these  days,  is  perhaps  too  little 
regarded.  While  we  have  been  perfecting  our  mechan- 
isms, we  have  sometimes  forgotten  that  the  finest  of  all 
raw  material  is  to  be  found  in  Men  ;  and  we  have  not  yet 
done  our  utmost  —  indeed  we  have  done  comparatively 
little  —  to  work  up  and  improve  that.  Speaking  of  our 
division  of  labor  processes,  Mr.  Ruskin  has  said,  "  It  is 
not,  truly  speaking,  the  labor  that  is  divided,  but  the 
men,  —  divided  into  mere  segments  of  men,  —  broken 
into  small  fragments  and  crumbs  of  life,  so  that  all  the 
little  piece  of  intelligence  that  is  left  in  a  man  is  not 
enough  to  make  a  pin,  or  a  nail,  but  exhausts  itself  in 
making  the  point  of  a  pin,  or  the  head  of  a  nail.  Now 


CHAP.  XL  MECHANICAL  EXPEDIENTS  OF  PROGRESS.  339 

it  is  a  good  and  desirable  thing,  truly,  to  make  many  pins 
}n  a  day  ;  but  if  we  could  only  see  with  what  crystal 
sand  their  points  were  polished,  sand  of  human  soul, 
mucli  to  be  magnified  before  it  can  be  discerned  for  what 
it  is,  we  should  think  there  would  be  some  loss  in  it  also. 
And  the  great  cry  that  rises  from  all  our  manufacturing 
cities,  louder  than  their  furnace  blast,  is  all  in  very  deed 
for  this,  that  we  manufacture  everything  there  except 
men  ;  we  blanch  cotton,  and  strengthen  steel,  and  refine 
sugar,  and  shape  pottery  ;  but  to  brighten,  to  strengthen, 
to  refine,  or  to  form  a  single  living  spirit,  never  enters 
into  our  estimate  of  advantages." 

The  popular  remedies  proposed  for  existing  social  and 
political  evils  have  also  a  strong  mechanical  tendency. 
There  is  a  moral  philosophy  which  proposes  to  measure 
our  heads  with  callipers,  and  then  cast  up  our  propensi- 
ties, moral  sentiments,  and  intellectual  faculties,  like  a 
sum  in  addition ;  thus  determining  the  line  of  life  we  are 
to  lead,  or  the  moral  hospital  we  are  to  be  sent  to. 
There  are  social  reformers,  who  will  have  us  estab- 
lished in  parallelograms,  and  ripened  into  men  by  abne- 
gation of  all  the  hopes,  struggles,  and  difficulties,  by 
which  men  are  made.  We  have  logarithms  ground  out 
of  a  box,  and  calculations  manufactured  by  merely  turn- 
ing a  handle,  over  which  men  formerly  educated  their 
faculties  by  studying  for  months.  And  there  are  plans 
afloat  for  rescuing  us  from  political  infamy  by  the  adop- 
tion of  sundry  arithmetical  and  mechanical  expedients, 
the  discussion  of  which  need  not  here  be  entered  on. 

The  improved  mechanism  in  our  schools  also  promises 
to  become  so  perfect  that  we  may,  before  long,  be  almost 
as  highly  educated  as  the  Chinese,  and  with  quite  as 
impotent  a  result.  The  process  of  'illing  the  memory 


340  MECHANISM   OF  SCHOOLS.  CHAP.  XL 

with  facts  and  formulas  got  by  rote  is  rapidly  extending ; 
but  the  practice  of  independent  thinking  in  any  but  the 
beaten  tracks  is  not  only  not  taught,  but  is  often  care- 
fully prevented.  But  the  facility  with  which  young 
people  are  thus  made  to  acquire  knowledge,  though  it 
may  be  cramming,  is  not  education.  It  fills,  but  does 
not  fructify  the  mind.  It  imparts  a  stimulus  for  the 
lime,  and  produces  a  sort  of  intellectual  keenness  and 
cleverness ;  but,  without  an  implanted  purpose  and  a 
higher  object  than  mere  knowledge,  it  will  bring  with  it 
no  solid  advantage.  The  rapidity  with  which  young 
people  now  get  at  a  knowledge  of  many  things  tends  to 
make  them  easily  satisfied,  and  they  often  become  blase 
at  an  early  age.  They  may  have  read  many  books,  and 
gone  through  many  branches  of  knowledge,  but  a  lamen- 
table indifference  possesses  them:  their  souls,  without 
compass,  without  anchorage,  are  blown  about  by  all 
winds;  they  may  understand,  but  there  is  little  active 
belief;  their  minds  merely  receive  ideas  with  the  pas- 
siveness  of  a  mirror,  and  the  impressions  made  are 
scarcely  more  permanent.  Such  persons  are  deter- 
mined to  no  acts,  have  no  desire  to.  form  convictions, 
arrive  at  no  conclusions,  and  their  will  seems  to  be  sus- 
pended, asleep,  diseased,  or  dead.  Knowledge,  in  cases 
of  this  sort,  gives  but  a  passing  pleasure  ;  a  sensation, 
but  no  more ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the  merest  epicurism  of  in- 
telligence—  sensuous,  but  certainly  not  intellectual.  The 
best  part  of  such  natures,  that  which  is  developed  by 
vigorous  effort  and  independent  action,  sleeps  a  deep 
sleep,  and  is  often  never  called  to  life,  except  by  the 
rough  awakening  of  sudden  calamity  or  suffering,  which, 
in  such  cases,  comes  as  a  blessing,  if  it  serves  to  rouse  up 
a  courageous  spirit  which,  but  for  it,  would  have  slum- 
bered on. 


CHAP.  XI.         KNOWLEDGE  MADE  PLEASANT.  341 

Growing  out  of  the  facilities  for  reading  which  exist 
now-a-days,  there  is  also  to  be  observed  a  sort  of  mania 
for  "  making  things  pleasant  "  on  the  road  to  knowledge ; 
and  hence  amusement  and  excitement  are  among  the 
most  popular  methods  employed  to  inculcate  knowledge 
and  inspire  a  taste  for  reading.  Our  books  and  period!* 
cals  must  be  highly  spiced,  amusing,  and  interesting. 
We  have  already  had  comic  grammars  and  histories, 
and  we  may  yet  possibly  reach  the  heights  of  a  Comic 
Euclid  and  a  Comic  Prayer-book.  Solid  subjects  are 
eschewed  ;  and  books  demanding  application  and  study 
lie  upon  bookshelves  unread.  Douglas  Jerrold,  in  one 
of  his  graver  moods,  once  observed  of  this  tendency :  "  I 
am  convinced  the  world  will  get  tired  (at  least  I  hope 
so)  of  this  eternal  guffaw  about  all  things.  After  all,  life 
has  something  serious  in  it.  It  cannot  be  all  a  comic 
history  of  humanity.  Some  men  would,  I  believe,  write 
a  Comic  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Think  of  a  Comic 
History  of  England,  the  drollery  of  Alfred,  the  fun  of 
Sir  Thomas  More,  the  farce  of  his  daughter  begging  the 
dead  head  and  clasping  it  in  her  coffin  on  her  bosom. 
Surely  the  world  will  be  sick  of  this  blasphemy."  Dr. 
Arnold,  speaking  of  the  same  evil,  once  observed:  — 
"  Childishness,  in  boys  even  of  good  abilities,  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  growing  fault,  and  I  do  not  know  to  what  to 
ascribe  it,  except  to  the  greater  number  of  exciting  books 
of  amusement.  These  completely  satisfy  all  the  intellec- 
tual appetites  of  a  boy,  which  is  rarely  very  voracious, 
and  leave  him  totally  palled,  not  only  for  his  regular 
work,  which  I  could  well  excuse  in  comparison,  but  for 
good  literature  of  all  sorts,  even  for  history  and  poetry." 
John  Sterling  also,  in  a  like  spirit,  said  :  —  "  Periodicals 
and  novels  are  to  all  in  this  generation,  but  more  espe- 


342  AMUSEMENT— NOVEL-READING.        CHAP.  XL 

cially  to  those  whose  minds  are  still  unformed  and  in  the 
process  of  formation,  a  new  and  more  effectual  substitute 
for  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  vermin  that  corrupt  the  whole- 
some waters,  and  infest  our  chambers." 

Accustomed  to  acquire  information  under  the  guise  of 
amusement,  young  people  will  soon  reject  that  which  is 
presented  to  them  under  the  aspect  of  study  and  labor 
Learning  their  knowledge  and  science  in  sport,  they  will 
become  apt  to  make  sport  of  both ;  whilst  the  habit  Df 
intellectual  dissipation,  thus  engendered,  cannot  fail,  in 
course  of  time,  to  produce  a  thoroughly  emasculating 
effect  both  upon  their  mind  and  character.  The  Novel 
is  the  most  favorite  refuge  of  the  frivolous  and  the  idle. 
As  a  rest  from  toil,  and  a  relaxation  from  graver  pur- 
suits, the  perusal  of  a  well-written  story,  by  a  writer  of 
genius,  is  a  high  intellectual  pleasure ;  and  it  is  a  de- 
scription of  literature  to  which  all  classes  of  readers,  old 
and  young,  are  attracted  as  by  a  powerful  instinct ;  nor 
would  we  have  any  of  them  debarred  from  its  enjoy- 
ment in  a  reasonable  degree.  But  to  make  it  the  ex- 
clusive literary  diet,  as  some  do,  —  to  devour  the  garbage 
with  which  the  shelves  of  circulating  libraries  are  crowd- 
ed, —  and  to  occupy  the  greater  portion  of  the  leisure 
hours  in  studying  the  preposterous  pictures  of  human  life 
which  so  many  of  them  present,  is  worse  than  waste  of 
time,  —  it  is  positively  pernicious.  The  habitual  novel- 
reader  indulges  in  fictitious  feelings  so  much,  that  there 
is  great  risk  of  sound  and  healthy  feeling  becoming  per- 
verted or  destroyed.  For,  the  literary  pity  evoked  by 
fiction  leads  to  no  corresponding  action  ;  the  susceptibili- 
ties which  it  excites  involve  no  inconvenience  nor  self- 
sacrifice  ;  so  that  the  heart  that  is  touched  too  often  by 
the  fiction  may  at  length  become  insensible  to  the  reality 


CHAP.  XI.  PURSUIT   OF  PLEASURE.  343 

The  steel  is  gradually  rubbed  out  of  the  character,  and 
it  insensibly  loses  its  vital  spring.  As  Nero  was  partial 
only  to  the  mildest  strains  of  music,  so  Robespierre's  de- 
light was  to  read  stories  only  of  love  and  endearment, 
displaying  in  his  life  what  Montaigne  calls  "  opinions 
super-celestes  et  mo3urs  souterreines."  "  Drawing  fine 
pictures  of  virtue  in  one's  mind,"  said  Bishop  Butler,  u  is 
so  far  from  necessarily  or  certainly  conducive  to  form  a 
habit  of  it  in  him  who  thus  employs  himself,  that  it  may 
even  harden  the  mind  in  a  contrary  course,  and  render 
it  gradually  more  insensible." 

Amusement  in  moderation  is  wholesome,  and  to  be 
commended  ;  but  amusement  in  excess  vitiates  the  whole 
nature,  and  is  a  thing  to  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
The  maxim  is  often  quoted  of  "  All  work  and  no  play 
makes  Jack  a  dull  boy ; "  but  all  play  and  no  work 
'makes  him  something  greatly  worse.  Nothing  can  be 
more  hurtful  to  a  youth  than  to  have  his  soul  sodden 
with  pleasure.  The  best  qualities  of  his  mind  are  thus 
frittered  away ;  common  enjoyments  become  tasteless  ;  his 
appetite  for  the  highest  kind  of  pleasures  is  satiated  and 
exhausted ;  and  when  he  comes  to  face  the  work  and  the 
duties  of  life,  the  result  is  often  only  aversion  and  dis 
gust.  As  the  child  turns  from  its  heap  of  broken  toys, 
so  the  blase  youth  turns  from  his  withered  pleasures; 
and  if  frivolity  have  become  his  habit,  he  will  find  that 
the  very  capacity  for  enjoyment  has  been  destroyed 
within  him.  "  Fast  men  "  soon  waste  and  exhaust  the 
powers  of  life,  and  dry  up  the  very  sources  of  true  hap- 
piness. They  have  forestalled  their  spring,  and  can 
produce  no  healthy  growth  of  either  character  or  intel- 
lect. A  child  without  simplicity,  a  maiden  without  in- 
oocence,  a  boy  without  truthfulness,  are  not  more  piteous 


344  PUESUIT  OF  PLEASURE.  CHAP.  XI, 

sights  than  the  man  who  has  wasted  and  thrown  away 
his  youth  in  pleasure.  It  is  amongst  such  persons 
especially,  whose  youth  has  been  sullied  by  premature 
enjoyments,  that  we  find  that  prevalence  of  skepticism, 
sneering,  and  egotism,  which  prove  a  soured  nature, 
Having  abused  the  sources  of  life,  and  thrown  away 
their  youth,  they  are  tempted  in  their  despair  to  throw 
their  manhood  after  it.  Injury  of  this  kind,  inflicted  on 
the  character,  is  most  difficult  to  be  repaired ;  for  the 
habits  formed  in  youth  bind  the  man  as  in  chains  of 
adamant.  "  On  ne  jette  point  Tancre  dans  le  fleuve  de 
la  vie,"  is  the  happy  phrase  of  an  old  French  writer,  in 
describing  that  continuity  of  life  in  all  its  parts  which 
inseparably  links  youth  and  manhood,  and  makes  the 
habits  of  the  one  more  or  less  the  interpreter  of  the 
other.  So  when  Lord  Bacon  says,  "  Strength  of  nature 
in  youth  passeth  over  many  excesses  which  are  owing  a 
man  until  he  is  old,"  he  expresses  a  physical  as  well  as 
a  moral  fact,  which  cannot  be  too  well  weighed  in  the 
conduct  of  early  life.  What  are  called  wild  oats,  when 
sown,  very  often  prove  tares  in  the  reaping.  Youthful 
indiscretions  ?oon  "  find  a  man  out."  But  the  worst  of 
them  is,  not  that  they  destroy  health,  so  much  as  that 
they  sully  manhood.  The  dissipated  youth  becomes  a 
tainted  man ;  and  often  he  cannot  be  pure,  even  if  he 
would.  If  cure  there  be,  it  is  only  to  be  found  in  inocu- 
lating the  mind  with  a  fervent  spirit  of  duty,  and  in 
energetic  application  to  useful  work. 

One  of  the  most  gifted  of  Frenchmen,  in  point  of  great 
intellectual  endowments,  was  Benjamin  Constant;  but, 
blase  at  twenty,  his  life  was  only  a  prolonged  wail,  in- 
stead of  a  harvest  of  the  great  deeds  which  he  was  capa- 
ble of  accomplishing  with  ordinary  diligence  and  self- 


CHAP.  XI.  CONSTANT  AND   THIERRY.  345 

control.  He  resolved  upon  doing  so  many  things,  which 
he  never  did,  that  people  came  to  speak  of  him  as  Con- 
stant the  Inconstant.  He  was  a  fluent  and  brilliant 
writer,  and  he  cherished  the  ambition  of  writing  many 
works  "  which  the  world  would  not  willingly  let  die." 
But  whilst  Constant  affected  the  highest  thinking,  unhap- 
pily he  practised  the  lowest  living;  nor  did  the  lofty 
transcendentalism  of  his  books  by  any  means  palliate  the 
acted  meannesses  of  his  life.  He  daily  frequented  the 
gaming-tables  while  engaged  in  preparing  his  work 
upon  religion,  and  carried  on  a  disreputable  intrigue 
while  writing  his  "  Adolphe."  With  all  his  vast  power/ 
of  intellect,  he  was  powerless,  because  he  had  no  faith  i» 
virtue.  "  Bah  !  "  said  he,  "  what  are  honor  and  dignity  / 
The  longer  I  live,  the  more  clearly  I  see  there  is  nottatA£ 
in  them."  It  was  the  howl  of  a  miserable  man.  He  de- 
scribed himself  as  but  "  ashes  and  dust,"  "  I  pass/  saifc 
he,  "  like  a  shadow  over  the  earth,  accompanied  by  misery 
and  ennui."  He  wished  for  Voltaire's  energy,  which  h*j 
would  rather  have  possessed  than  his  genius.  But  ho 
had  no  strength  of  purpose,  —  nothing  but  wishes ;  his 
life,  prematurely  exhausted,  had  become  but  a  heap  of 
broken  links.  He  spoke  of  himself  as  a  person  with  one 
foot  in  the  air.  He  admitted  that  he  had  no  principles, 
and  no  moral  consistency.  Hence,  with  his  splendid 
talents,  he  contrived  to  do  nothing ;  and,  after  living  for 
many  years  miserable,  he  died  worn  out  and  wretched. 

The  career  of  Augustin  Thierry,  the  author  of  the 
14  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,"  affords  an  admirable 
contrast  to  that  of  Constant.  His  entire  life  presented  a 
striking  example  of  perseverance,  diligence,  self-culture, 
and  untiring  devotion  to  knowledge.  In  the  pursuit  he 
lost  liis  eyesight,  lo-t  his  health,  but  never  tcwt  his  love 
15* 


346  COLERIDGE  AND  SOUTHEY.  CHAP.  XL 

of  truth.  When  so  feeble  that  he  was  carried  from  room 
to  room,  like  a  helpless  infant,  in  the  arms  of  a  nurse,  his 
brave  spirit  never  failed  him ;  and  blind  and  helpless 
though  he  was,  he  concluded  his  literary  career  in  the 
following  noble  words :  "  If,  as  I  think,  the  interest  of 
science  is  counted  in  the  number  of  great  national  inter- 
ests, I  have  given  my  country  all  that  the  soldier,  muti- 
lated on  the  field  of  battle,  gives  her.  Whatever  may  bo 
the  fate  of  my  labors,  this  example,  I  hope,  will  not  be 
lost.  I  would  wish  it  to  serve  to  combat  the  species  of 
moral  weakness  which  is  the  disease  of  our  present  gen- 
eration ;  to  bring  back  into  the  straight  road  of  life  some 
of  those  enervated  souls  that  complain  of  wanting  faith, 
that  know  not  what  to  do,  and  seek  everywhere,  without 
finding  it,  an  object  of  worship  and  admiration.  Why 
say,  with  so  much  bitterness,  that  in  the  world,  consti- 
tuted as  it  is,  there  is  no  air  for  all  lungs,  —  no  employ- 
ment for  all  minds  ?  Is  not  calm  and  serious  study  there  ? 
and  is  not  that  a  refuge,  a  hope,  a  field  within  the  reach 
of  all  of  us  ?  With  it,  evil  days  are  passed  over  without 
their  weight  being  felt ;  every  one  can  make  his  own 
destiny,  —  every  one  employ  his  life  nobly.  This  is 
what  I  have  done,  and  would  do  again  if  I  had  to  re- 
commence my  career ;  I  would  choose  that  which  has 
brought  me  where  I  am.  Blind,  and  suffering  without 
hope,  and  almost  without  intermission,  I  may  give  this 
testimony,  which  from  me  will  not  appear  suspicious. 
There  is  something  in  the  world  better  than  sensual  en- 
joyments, better  than  fortune,  better  than  health  itself,  — 
it  is  devotion  to  knowledge." 

Coleridge,  in  many  respects,  resembled  Constant.  He 
possessed  equally  brilliant  powers,  but  was  similarly  in- 
firm of  purpose.  With  all  his  great  intellectual  gifts,  he 


CHAP.  XI.  ROBERT  NICOLL.  347 

wanted  the  gift  of  industry,  and  had  no  liking  for  steady 
work.  He  wanted  also  the  sense  of  manly  independence, 
and  thought  it  no  degradation  to  leave  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren to  be  maintained  by  the  brain-work  of  the  noble 
Southey,  while  he  himself  retired  to  Highgate  Grove  to 
discourse  transcendentalism  to  his  disciples,  looking  down 
contemptuously  upon  the  honest  work  going  forward  be- 
neath him  amidst  the  din  and  smoke  of  London.  With 
remunerative  and  honorable  employment  at  his  command, 
lie  preferred  stooping  to  accept  the  charity  of  friends; 
and  with  the  loftiest  ideas  of  philosophy,  he  yet  conde- 
scended to  humiliations  in  his  life  from  which  many  a 
day -laborer  would  have  shrunk.  How  different  in  spirit 
was  -Southey !  always  an  indefatigable  worker ;  laboring 
not  merely  at  works  of  his  own  choice,  and  at  taskwork 
often  tedious  and  distasteful,  but  also  unremittingly  and 
with  the  utmost  eagerness  seeking  and  storing  knowledge 
purely  for  the  love  of  it.  Every  day,  every  hour  had  its 
allotted  employment :  engagements  to  publishers  requir- 
ing punctual  fulfilment ;  the  current  expenses  of  a  large 
household  (at  one  time  including  Coleridge's  wife  and 
children)  duly  to  provide  for;  Southey  had  no  crop 
growing  while  his  pen  was  idle.  "  My  ways,"  he  used 
to  say,  "are  as  broad  as  the  king's  high-road,  and  my 
means  lie  in  an  inkstand." 

Robert  Nicoll  wrote  to  a  friend,  after  reading  the 
"  Recollections  of  Coleridge,"  "  What  a  mighty  intellect 
was  lost  in  that  man  for  want  of  a  little  energy,  —  a 
little  determination."  Nicoll  himself  was  a  true  and 
brave  spirit,  cut  off  in  his  youth,  but  not  before  he  had 
encountered  and  overcome  great  difficulties  in  life.  At 
his  outset,  while  carrying  on  a  small  business  as  a  book- 
seller, he  found  himself  weighed  down  with  a  debt  of 


348  USES   OF  DIFFICULTY.  CHAP.  XL 

only  twenty  pounds,  which  he  said  he  felt  "  weighing  like 
a  mill-stone  round  his  neck,"  and  that  "  if  he  had  it  paid 
he  never  would  borrow  again  from  mortal  man."  Writ- 
ing to  his  mother  at  the  time  he  said,  u  Fear  not  for  me, 
dear  mother  ;  for  I  feel  myself  daily  growing  firmer  and 
more  hopeful  in  spirit.  The  more  I  think  and  reflect,  — 
and  thinking,  not  reading,  is  now  my  occupation,  —  I  feel 
that,  whether  I  be  growing  richer  or  not,  I  am  growing  a 
wiser  man,  which  is  far  better.  Pain,  poverty,  and  all 
the  other  wild  beasts  of  life  whick  so  affrighten  others,  I 
am  so  bold  as  to  think  I  could  look  in  the  face  without 
shrinking,  without  losing  respect  for  myself,  faith  in  man's 
high  destinies,  or  trust  in  God.  There  is  a  point  which 
it  costs  much  mental  toil  and  struggling  to  gain,  but 
which,  when  once  gained,  a  man  can  look  down  from,  as 
a  traveller  from  a  lofty  mountain,  on  storms  raging  be- 
low, while  he  is  walking  in  sunshine.  That  I  have  yet 
gained  this  point  in  life  I  will  not  say,  but  I  feel  myself 
daily  nearer  to  it." 

It  is  not  case,  but  effort,  —  not  facility,  but  difficulty, 
that  makes  men.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  station  in  life,  in 
which  difficulties  have  not  to  be  encountered  and  over- 
come before  any  decided  measure  of  success  can  be 
achieved.  Those  difficulties  are,  however,  our  best  in- 
structors, as  our  mistakes  often  form  our  best  experience. 
Charles  James  Fox  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  hoped 
more  from  a  man  who  failed,  and  yet  went  on  in  spite  of 
his  failure,  than  from  the  buoyant  career  of  the  successful. 
"  It  is  all  very  well,"  said  he,  "  to  tell  me  that  a  young 
man  has  distinguished  himself  by  a  brilliant  first  speech. 
He  may  go  on,  or  he  may  be  satisfied  with  his  first  tri- 
umph ;  but  show  me  a  young  man  who  has  not  succeeded 
at  first,  and  nevertheless  has  gone  on,  and  I  will  back  that 


CHAP.  XL  USES  OF  DIFFICULTY.  34$ 

young  man  to  do  better  than  most  of  those  who  have  suc- 
ceeded at  the  first  trial." 

We  learn  wisdom  from  failure  much  more  than  from 
success ;  we  often  discover  what  will  do,  by  finding  out 
what  will  not  do  ;  and  probably  he  who  never  made  a 
mistake,  never  made  a  discovery.  Home  Tooke  used  to 
say  of  his  studies  in  intellectual  philosophy  j  that  he  had 
become  all  the  better  acquainted  with  the  country,  through 
having  had  the  good-luck  sometimes  to  lose  his  way.  And 
a  distinguished  investigator  in  physical  science  has  left  it 
on  record  that,  whenever  in  the  course  of  his  researches  he 
encountered  an  apparently  insuperable  obstacle,  he  gener- 
ally found  himself  on  the  brink  of  some  novel  discovery. 
The  very  greatest  things,  —  great  thoughts,  discoveries, 
inventions,  —  have  generally  been  nurtured  in  hardship, 
often  pondered  over  in  sorrow,  and  at  length  established 
with  difficulty. 

Beethoven  said  of  Rossini,  that  he  had  in  him  the 
stuff  to  have  made  a  good  musician,  if  he  had  only,  when 
a  boy,  been  well  flogged ;  but  that  he  had  been  spoilt  by 
the  facility  with  which  he  produced.  Men  who  feel  their 
strength  within  them  need  not  fear  to  encounter  adverse 
opinions ;  they  have  far  greater  reason  to  fear  undue 
praise  and  too  friendly  criticism.  When  Mendelssohn 
was  about  to  enter  the  orchestra  at  Birmingham,  on  the 
first  performance  of  his  "  Elijah,"  he  said  laughingly  to 
one  of  his  friends  and  critics,  "  Stick  your  claws  into 
me !  Don't  tell  me  what  you  like,  but  what  you  don't 
like !  "  * 

It  has  been  said,  and  truly,  that  it  is  the  defeat  that 
tries  the  general  more  than  the  victory.  Washington 
lost  far  more  battles  than  he  gained ;  but  he  succeeded 
*  A 'iienaeuin. 


350  USES  OF  ADVERSITY.  CHAP.  XL 

in  the  end.  The  Romans,  in  their  most  victorious  cam- 
paigns, almost  invariably  began  with  defeats.  Moreau 
used  to  be  compared  by  his  companions  to  a  drum,  which 
nobody  hears  of  except  it  be  beaten.  Wellington's  mili- 
tary genius  was  perfected  by  encounter  with  difficulties 
of  apparently  the  most  overwhelming  character,  but  which 
only  served  to  nerve  his  resolution,  and  bring  out  more 
prominently  his  great  qualities  as  a  man  and  a  general. 
So  the  skilful  mariner  obtains  his  best  experience  amidst 
storms  and  tempests,  which  train  him  to  self-reliance, 
courage,  and  the  highest  discipline ;  and  we  probably 
owe  to  rough  seas  and  wintry  nights,  the  best  training 
of  our  race  of  British  seamen,  who  are  certainly  not 
surpassed  by  any  in  the  world. 

Necessity  may  be  a  hard  schoolmistress ;  but  she  is 
generally  found  the  best.  Though  the  ordeal  of  ad- 
versity is  one  from  which  we  naturally  shrink,  yet,  when 
it  comes,  we  must  bravely  and  manfully  encounter  it. 
Burns  truly  says, 

"  Though  losses  and  crosses 
Be  lessons  right  severe, 
There's  wit  there,  you'll  get  there, 
You'll  find  no  other  where." 

"  Sweet  indeed  are  the  uses  of  adversity."  They  re- 
veal to  us  our  powers,  and  call  forth  our  energies.  If 
there  be  real  worth  in  the  character,  like  sweet  herbs,  it 
will  give  forth  its  finest  fragrance  when  pressed.  "  Cross- 
es," says  the  old  proverb,  "  are  the  ladders  that  lead  to 
heaven."  "  What  is  even  poverty  itself,"  asks  Richter, 
"  that  a  man  should  murmur  under  it  ?  It  is  but  as  the 
pain  of  piercing  a  maiden's  ear,  and  you  hang  precious 
jewels  in  the  wound."  In  the  experience  of  life  it  is 
found  that  tt  e  wholesome  discipline  of  adversity  in  strong 


CHAP.  XI.         ADVERSITY  AND  PROSPERITY.  351 

natures  usually  carries  with  it  a  self-preserving  influence. 
Many  are  found  capable  of  bravely  bearing  up  under  pri- 
vations, and  cheerfully  encountering  obstructions,  who  are 
afterwards  found  unable  to  withstand  the  more  dangerous 
influences  of  prosperity.  It  is  only  a  weak  man  whom 
the  wind  deprives  of  his  cloak :  a  man  of  average  strength 
is  more  in  danger  of  losing  it  when  assailed  by  the  beams 
of  a  too  genial  sun.  Thus  it  often  needs  a  higher  disci- 
pline and  a  stronger  character  to  bear  up  under  good 
fortune  than  under  adverse.  Some  generous  natures 
kindle  and  warm  with  prosperity,  but  there  are  many 
on  whom  wealth  has  no  such  influence.  Base  hearts  it 
only  hardens,  making  those  who  were  mean  and  servile, 
mean  and  proud.  But  while  prosperity  is  apt  to  harden 
the  heart  to  pride,  adversity  in  a  man  of  resolution  will 
only  serve  to  ripen  it  to  fortitude.  Too  much  facility, 
ease,  and  prosperity  is  not  good  for  a  man ;  removing 
that  wholesome  stimulus  to  exertion,  which  is  so  essential 
to  sound  discipline.  On  the  contrary,  to  use  the  words 
of  Burke,  "  Difficulty  is  a  severe  instructor,  set  over  us 
by  the  supreme  ordinance  of  a  parental  guardian  and 
instructor,  who  knows  us  better  than  we  know  ourselves, 
as  He  loves  us  better  too.  He  that  wrestles  with  us 
strengthens  our  nerves,  and  sharpens  our  skill ;  our  antag- 
onist is  thus  our  helper."  Without  the  necessity  of  en- 
countering difficulty,  life  might  be  easier,  but  men  would 
be  worth  less.  For  trials,  wisely  improved,  train  the 
character,  and  teach  self-help ;  thus  hardship  itself  may 
often  prove  the  wholesomest  discipline  for  us,  though  we 
recognize  it  not.  When  the  gallant  young  Hodson, 
unjustly  removed  from  his  Indian  command,  felt  him- 
self sore  pressed  down  by  unmerited  calumny  and  re- 
proach, he  yet  preserved  the  courage  to  say  to  a  friend, 


352  THE  BATTLE   OF  LIFE.  CHAP.  XI 

"  I  strive  to  look  the  worst  boldly  in  the  face,  as  I  would 
an- enemy  in  the  field,  and  to  do  my  appointed  work  res- 
olutely and  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  satisfied  that  there 
is  a  reason  for  all ;  and  that  even  irksome  duties  well 
done  bring  their  own  reward,  and  that,  if  not,  still  they 
are  duties." 

The  battle  of  life,  in  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
cases,  must  necessarily  be  fought  up-hill ;  and  to  win  it 
without  a  struggle  were  perhaps  to  win  it  without  honor. 
If  there  were  no  difficulties,  there  would  be  no  success ; 
if  there  were  nothing  to  struggle  for,  there  would  be 
nothing  to  be  achieved.  Difficulties  may  intimidate  the 
weak,  but  they  act  only  as  a  wholesome  stimulus  to  men 
of  pluck  and  resolution.  All  experience  of  life  indeed 
serves  to  prove  that  the  impediments  thrown  in  the  way  of 
human  advancement  may  for  the  most  part  be  overcome 
by  steady  good  conduct,  honest  zeal,  activity,  persever- 
ance, and  above  all  by  a  determined  resolution  to  surmount 
difficulties,  and  stand  up  manfully  against  misfortune. 

The  school  of  Difficulty  is  the  best  school  of  moral 
discipline,  for  nations  as  for  individuals.  Indeed,  the 
history  of  difficulty  would  be  but  a  history  of  all  the 
great  and  good  things  that  have  yet  been  accomplished 
by  men.  It  is  hard  to  say  how  much  northern  nations 
owe  to  their  encounter  with  a  comparatively  rude  and 
changeable  climate  and  an  originally  sterile  soil,  which 
is  one  of  the  necessities  of  their  condition,  —  involving 
a  perennial  struggle  with  difficulties  such  as  the  natives 
of  sunnier  climes  know  nothing  of.  And  thus  it  may  be, 
that  though  our  finest  products  are  exotic,  the  skill  and 
industry  which  have  been  necessary  to  rear  them,  have 
issued  in  the  production  of  a  native  growth  of  men  not 
surpassed  on  the  globe. 


CHAP.  XL          THE   SCHOOL  OF  DIFFICULTY.  8/3 

Wherever  there  is  difficulty,  the  individual  man  must 
come  out  for  better  for  worse.  Encounter  with  it  will 
train  his  strength,  and  discipline  his  skill ;  heartening 
him  for  future  effort,  as  the  racer,  by  being  trained  to 
run  against  the  hill,  at  length  courses  with  facility.  The 
road  to  success  may  be  steep  to  climb,  but  it  puts  to 
the  proof  the  energies  of  him  who  would  reach  the 
summit.  By  experience  a  man  soon  learns  how  ob- 
stacles are  to  be  overcome  by  grappling  with  them,  — • 
how  soft  as  silk  the  nettle  becomes  when  it  is  boldly 
grasped,  —  and  how  powerful  a  principle  of  realizing 
the  object  proposed,  is  the  moral  conviction  that  we  can 
and  will  accomplish  it.  Thus  difficulties  often  fall  away 
of  themselves,  before  the  determination  to  overcome  them. 
In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  if  marched  boldly  up  to  they 
will  flee  away.  Like  thieves,  they  often  disappear  at  a 
glance.  What  looked  like  insuperable  obstacles,  like 
some  great  mountain  chain  in  our  way,  frowning  danger 
and  trial,  are  found  to  become  practicable  when  ap- 
proached, and  paths  formerly  unseen,  though  they  may 
be  narrow  and  difficult,  open  a  way  for  us  through  the 
hills. 

Much  will  be  done  if  we  do  but  try.  Nobody  knows 
what  he  can  do  till  he  has  tried ;  and  few  try  their  best 
till  they  have  been  forced  to  do  it.  "  If  I  could  do  such 
and  such  a  thing,"  sighs  the  desponding  youth.  But  he 
will  never  do,  if  he  only  wishes.  The  desire  must  ripen 
into  purpose  and  effort;  and  one  energetic  attempt  is 
worth  a  thousand  aspirations.  Purposes,  like  eggs,  un 
less  they  be  hatched  into  action,  will  run  into  rottenness. 
It  is  these  thorny  "  ifs,"  —  the  mutterings  of  impotence 
and  despair,  —  which  so  often  hedge  round  the  field  of 
oossibility,  and  prevent  anything  being  done  or  even 


354  MASTERY    OF  DIFFICULTIES.  CHAP.  XL 

attempted.  "  A  difficulty,"  said  Lord  Lyndhurst,  "  is  a 
thing  to  be  overcome  ; "  grapple  with  it  at  once  ;  facility 
will  come  with  practice,  and  strength  and  fortitude  with 
repeated  effort.  Thus  the  mind  and  character  may  be 
trained  to  an  almost  perfect  discipline,  enabling  it  to 
move  with  a  grace,  spirit,  and  liberty,  almost  incompre- 
hensible to  those  who  have  not  passed  through  a  sim- 
ilar experience. 

Everything  that  we  learn  is  the  mastery  of  a  diffi- 
culty ;  and  the  mastery  of  one  helps  us  to  the  mastery 
of  others.  Things  which  may  at  first  sight  appear  com- 
paratively valueless  in  education, —  such  as  the  study  of 
the  dead  languages,  and  the  relations  of  lines  and  sur- 
faces which  we  call  mathematics,  —  are  really  of  the 
greatest  practical  value,  not  so  much  because  of  the  in- 
formation which  they  yield,  as  because  of  the  develop- 
ment which  they  compel.  The  mastery  of  these  studies 
evokes  effort,  and  cultivates  powers  of  application,  which 
otherwise  might  have  lain  dormant.  Thus  one  thing 
leads  to  another,  and  so  the  work  goes  on  through  life, 
—  encounter  with  difficulty  ending  only  where  life  or 
progress  ends.  But  indulging  in  the  feeling  of  discour- 
agement never  helped  any  one  over  a  difficulty,  and 
never  will.  D'Alembert's  advice  to  the  student  who  com- 
plained to  him  about  his  want  of  success  in  mastering 
the  first  elements  of  mathematics  was  the  right  one  — 
u  Go  on,  sir,  and  faith  and  strength  will  come  to  you." 

Nothing  is  easy,  but  was  difficult  at  first,  —  not  even 
BO  simple  an  act  as  walking.  The  danseuse,  who  turns 
a  pirouette,  the  violinist  who  plays  a  sonata,  have  ac- 
quired their  dexterity  by  patient  repetition  and  after 
many  failures.  Carissimi,  *when  praised  for  the  ease 
and  grao3  of  his  melodies,  exclaimed,  "  Ah !  you  little 


CHAP.  XL  DISRAELI  AND  CLAY.  355 

know  with  what  difficulty  this  ease  has  been  acquired." 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  when  once  asked  how  long  it 
had  taken  him  to  paint  a  certain  picture,  replied,  "  All 
my  life."  The  orator,  who  pours  his  flashing  thoughts 
with  such  apparent  ease  upon  the  minds  of  his  hearers, 
achieves  his  wonderful  power  only  by  means  of  patient 
and  persevering  labor,  after  much  repetition,  and,  like 
Disraeli,  often  after  bitter  disappointments.  Henry  Clay, 
the  American  orator,  when  giving  advice  to  young  men, 
thus  described  to  them  the  secret  of  his  success  in 
the  cultivation  of  his  art :  "  I  owe  my  success  in  life," 
said  he,  "  chiefly  to  one  circumstance,  —  that  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven  I  commenced,  and  continued  for  years, 
the  process  of  daily  reading  and  speaking  upon  the 
contents  of  some  historical  or  scientific  book.  These 
off-hand  efforts  were  made,  sometimes  in  a  cornfield, 
at  others  in  the  forest,  and  not  uiifrequently  in  some 
distant  barn,  with  the  horse  and  the  ox  for  my  audi- 
tors. It  is  to  this  early  practice  of  the  art  of  all  arts 
that  I  am  indebted  for  the  primary  and  leading  im- 
pulses that  stimulated  me  onward,  and  have  shaped 
and  moulded  my  whole  subsequent  destiny." 

Curran,  the  Irish  orator,  when  a  youth,  had  a  strong 
defect  in  his  articulation,  and  at  school  he  was  known 
as  "  stuttering  Jack  Curran."  While  he  was  engaged 
in  the  study  of  the  law,  and  still  struggling  to  overcome 
his  defect,  he  was  stung  into  eloquence  by  the  sar- 
casms of  a  member  of  a  debating  club,  who  character- 
ized him  as  "  Orator  Mum ; "  for,  like  Cowper,  when 
he  stood  up  to  speak,  Curran  had  not  on  a  previous 
occasion  been  able  to  utter  a  word.  But  the  taunt 
raised  his  pluck ;  and  he  replied  with  a  triumphant 
speech.  This  accidental  discovery  in  himself  of  the 


356  CURRAN.  CHAP.  XL 

gift  of  eloquence,  encouraged  him  to  proceed  in  his 
studies  with  additional  energy  and  vigor.  He  cor- 
rected his  enunciation  by  reading  aloud,  emphatically 
and  distinctly,  the  best  passages  in  our  literature,  for 
several  hours  every  day,  studying  his  features  before  a 
mirror,  and  adopting  a  method  of  gesticulation  suited 
to  his  rather  awkward  and  ungraceful  figure.  He  also 
proposed  cases  to  himself,  which  he  detailed  with  as 
much  care  as  if  he  had  been  addressing  a  jury.  Cur- 
ran  commenced  business  with  the  qualification  which 
Lord  Eldon  stated  to  be  the  first  requisite  for  distinc- 
tion as  a  barrister,  that  is,  "to  be  not  worth  a  shil- 
ling." We  need  not  say  how  Curran's  perseverance, 
energy,  and  genius,  eventually  succeeded.  When  work- 
ing his  way  laboriously  and  painfully  at  the  bar,  still 
oppressed  by  the  diffidence  which  had  overcome  him 
in  his  debating  club,  he  was  on  one  occasion  stung  by 
the  Judge  (Robinson)  into  the  following  masterly  re- 
tort. In  a  case  under  discussion,  Mr.  Curran  observed 
"that  he  had  never  met  the  law  as  laid  down  by  his 
lordship  in  any  book  in  his  library."  "That  may  be, 
sir,"  said  the  judge,  in  a  contemptuous  tone,  "but  I 
suspect  that  your  library  is  very  small."  His  lordship 
was  notoriously  a  furious  political  partisan,  the  author 
of  several  anonymous  pamphlets  characterized  by  unu- 
sual violence  and  dogmatism.  Curran,  roused  by  this 
allusion  to  his  straitened  circumstances,  replied  thus : 
"It  is  very  true,  my  lord,  that  I  am  poor,  and  the 
circumstance  has  certainly  curtailed  my  library ;  my 
books  are  not  numerous,  but  they  are  select,  and  I 
hope  they  have  been  perused  with  proper  dispositions. 
I  have  prepared  myself  for  this  high  profession  by  the 
study  of  a  few  good  works,  rather  than  by  the  compo- 


CHAP.  XI.  WILLIAM  CHAMBERS.  357 

sition  of  a  great  many  bad  ones.  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  my  poverty;  but  I  should  be  ashamed  of  my  wealth, 
could  I  have  stooped  to  acquire  it  by  servility  and 
corruption.  If  I  rise  not  to  rank,  I  shall  at  least  be 
honest;  and  should  I  ever  cease  to  be  so,  many  an 
example  shows  me  that  an  ill-gained  elevation,  by 
making  me  the  more  conspicuous,  would  only  make 
me  the  more  universally  and  the  more  notoriously 
contemptible." 

The  most  highly  educated  men  are  those  who  have 
been  the  most  resolute  in  their  encounter  with  difficul- 
ties. The  extremest  poverty  has  been  no  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  men  devoted  to  the  duty  of  self-culture. 
Professor  Alexander  Murray,  the  linguist,  learned  to 
write  by  scribbling  his  letters  on  an  old  wool-card 
with  the  end  of  a  burnt  heather  stem.  The  only 
book  which  his  father,  who  was  a  poor  shepherd,  pos- 
sessed, was  a  penny  Shorter  Catechism;  but  that,  be- 
ing thought  too  valuable  for  common  use,  was  carefully 
preserved  in  a  cupboard  for  the  Sunday  catechi sings. 
Professor  Moor,  when  a  young  man,  being  too  poor  to 
purchase  Newton's  "  Principia,"  borrowed  the  book,  and 
copied  the  whole  of  it  with  his  own  hand.  Many  poor 
students,  while  laboring  daily  for  their  living,  have  only 
been  able  to  snatch  an  atom  of  knowledge  here  and 
there  at  intervals,  as  birds  do  their  food  in  winter 
time  when  the  fields  are  covered  with  snow.  They 
have  struggled  on,  and  faith  and  hope  have  come  to 
them.  A  well-known  author  and  publisher,  William 
Chambers,  of  Edinburgh,  speaking  before  an  assem- 
blage of  young  men  in  that  city,  thus  briefly  described 
to  them  his  humble  beginnings,  for  their  encourage- 
ment: "I  stand  before  you,"  he  said,  "a  self-educated 


358  WILLIAM  COBBETT.  CHAP.  XL 

man.  My  education  was  that  which  is  supplied  at  the 
humble  parish  schools  of  Scotland;  and  it  was  only 
when  I  went  to  Edinburgh,  a  poor  boy,  that  I  de- 
voted my  evenings,  after  the  labors  of  the  day,  to  the 
cultivation  of  that  intellect  which  the  Almighty  has 
given  me.  From  seven  or  eight  in  the  morning  till 
nine  or  ten  at  night,  was  I  at  my  business  as  a  book- 
seller's apprentice,  and  it  was  only  during  hours  after 
these,  stolen  from  sleep,  that  I  could  devote  myself  to 
study.  I  assure  you  that  I  did  not  read  novels;  my 
attention  was  devoted  to  physical  science,  and  other 
useful  matters.  During  that  period,  I  taught  myself 
French.  I  look  back  to  those  times  with  great  pleas- 
ure, and  am  almost  sorry  I  have  not  to  go  through  the 
same  troubles  again.  I  reaped  more  pleasure  when  I 
had  not  a  sixpence  in  my  pocket,  studying  in  a  garret 
in  Edinburgh,  than  I  now  find  when  sitting  amidst  all 
the  elegances  and  comforts  of  a  parlor." 

William  Cobbett  has  himself  told  the  interesting  story 
of  how  he  learned  English  Grammar,  and,  as  a  curious 
illustration  of  that  brave  man's  pluck  in  grappling  with  a 
difficulty,  we  cannot  do  better  than  quote  it  here.  "  I 
learned  grammar,"  he  said,  "  when  I  was  a  private  soldier 
on  the  pay  of  sixpence  a  day.  The  edge  of  my  berth,  or 
that  of  my  guard-bed,  was  my  seat  to  study  in  ;  my  knap- 
sack was  my  bookcase ;  a  bit  of  board  lying  on  my  lap 
was  my  writing-table ;  and  the  task  did  not  demand  any- 
thing like  a  year  of  my  life.  I  had  no  money  to  purchase 
candle  or  oil ;  in  winter  time  it  was  rarely  that  I  could 
get  any  evening  light  but  that  of  the  fire,  and  only  my 
turn  even  of  that.  And  if  I,  under  such  circumstances, 
and  without  parent  or  friend  to  advise  or  encourage  me, 
accomplished  this  undertaking,  what  excuse  can  there 


CHAP.  XI  SIR  SAMUEL  KOMILLY.  359 

be  for  any  youth,  however  poor,  however  pressed  with 
business,  or  however  circumstanced  as  to  room  or  other 
conveniences  ?  To  buy  a  pen  or  a  sheet  of  paper  I  was 
compelled  to  forego  some  portion  of  food,  though  in  a 
state  of  half-starvation  ;  I  had  no  moment  of  time  that  J 
could  call  my  own ;  and  I  had  to  read  and  to  write  amidst 
the  talking,  laughing,  singing,  whistling,  and  brawling  of 
at  least  half  a  score  of  the  most  thoughtless  of  men,  and 
that,  too,  in  the  hours  of  their  freedom  from  all  control. 
Think  not  lightly  of  the  farthing  that  I  had  to  give,  now 
and  then,  for  ink,  pen,  or  paper  !  That  farthing  was, 
alas  !  a  great  sum  to  me  !  I  was  as  tall  as  I  am  now  ;  I 
had  great  health  and  great  exercise.  The  whole  of  the 
money,  not  expended  for  us  at  market,  was  twopence  a 
week  for  each  man.  I  remember,  and  well  I  may  !  that 
on  one  occasion  I,  after  all  necessary  expenses,  had.  on 
a  Friday,  made  shifts  to  have  a  half-penny  in  reserve, 
which  I  had  destined  for  the  purchase  of  a  red-herring  in 
the  morning ;  but,  when  I  pulled  off  my  clothes  at  night, 
so  hungry  then  as  to  be  hardly  able  to  endure  life,  I  found 
that  I  had  lost  my  half-penny  !  I  buried  my  head  under 
the  miserable  sheet  and  rug,  and  cried  like  a  child ! 
And  again  I  say,  if  I,  under  circumstances  like  these, 
could  encounter  and  overcome  this  task,  is  there,  can 
there  be,  in  the  whole  world,  a  youth  to  find  an  excuse 
for  the  non-performance  ?  " 

A  very  different  man  was  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  but 
not  less  indefatigable  as  a  diligent  self-cultivator.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  jeweller,  descended  from  a  French  refu- 
gee ;  he  received  little  education  in  his  early  years,  but 
overcame  all  his  disadvantages  by  unwearied  application, 
and  by  efforts  constantly  directed  towards  the  same  end. 
w  I  determined"  he  says,  in  his  autobiography,  "  when  I 


t60  JOHN  LEYDEN.  CHAP.  XI. 

was  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  to  apply 
myself  seriously  to  learning  Latin,  of  which  I,  at  that 
time,  knew  little  more  than  some  of  the  most  familiar 
rules  of  grammar.  In  the  course  of  three  or  four  years, 
during  which  I  thus  applied  myself,  I  had  read  almost 
every  prose  writer  of  the  age  of  pure  Latinity.  except 
those  who  have  treated  merely  of  technical  subjects,  such 
as  Varro,  Columella,  and  Celsus.  I  had  gone  three  times 
through  the  whole  of  Livy,  Sallust,  and  Tacitus.  I  had 
studied  the  most  celebrated  orations  of  Cicero,  and  trans- 
lated a  great  deal  of  Homer.  Terence,  Virgil,  Horace, 
Ovid,  and  Juvenal,  I  had  read  over  and  over  again." 
He  also  studied  geography,  natural  history,  and  natural 
philosophy,  and  obtained  a  considerable  acquaintance 
with  general  knowledge.  At  sixteen,  he  was  articled  to 
a  clerk  in  Chancery  ;  worked  hard  ;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar ;  and  his  industry  and  perseverance  insured  success. 
He  became  Solicitor- General  under  the  Fox  administra- 
tion, in  1806,  and  steadily  worked  his  way  to  the  highest 
celebrity  in  his  profession.  Yet  he  was  always  haunted 
by  a  painful  and  almost  oppressive  sense  of  his  own 
disqualifications,  and  never  ceased  laboring  to  remedy 
them.  His  autobiography  is  a  lesson  of  instructive  facts, 
worth  volumes  of  sentiment,  and  is  well  deserving  of  a 
careful  perusal. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  was  accustomed  to  cite  the  case  of  his 
young  friend  John  Leyden  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
illustrations  of  the  power  of  perseverance  which  he  had 
ever  known.  The  son  of  a  shepherd  in  one  of  the  wildest 
valleys  of  Roxburghshire,  he  was  almost  entirely  self-edu- 
cated. Like  many  Scotch  shepherds'  sons  —  like  Hogg, 
who  taught  himself  to  write  by  copying  the  letters  of  a 
printed  book  is  he  lay  watching  his  flock  on  the  hill-side — 


CHAP.  XI.  JOHN  LEYDEN.  361 

like  Cairns,  who  from  tending  sheep  on  the  Lammermoors, 
raised  himself  by  dint  of  application  and  industry  to  the 
professor's  chair  which  he  now  so  worthily  holds  —  like 
Murray,  Ferguson,  and  many  more,  Leyden  was  early  in- 
spired by  a  thirst  for  knowledge.  When  a  poor  barefooted 
boy,  he  walked  six  or  eight  miles  across  the  moors  daily 
to  learn  reading  at  the  little  village  school-house  of  Kirk- 
ton  ;  and  this  was  all  the  education  he  received ;  the  rest 
he  acquired  for  himself.  He  found  his  way  to  Edinburgh 
to  attend  the  college  there,  setting  the  extremest  penury 
at  utter  defiance.  He  was  first  discovered  as  a  frequenter 
of  a  small  bookseller's  shop  kept  by  Archibald  Constable, 
afterwards  so  well  known  as  a  publisher.  He  would  pass 
hour  after  hour  perched  on  a  ladder  in  mid-air,  with  some 
great  folio  in  his  hand,  forgetful  of  the  scanty  meal  of 
bread  and  water  which  awaited  him  at  his  miserable 
lodging.  Access  to  books  and  lectures  comprised  all 
within  the  bounds  of  his  wishes.  Thus  he  toiled  and 
battled  at  the  gates  of  science  until  his  unconquerable 
perseverance  carried  everything  before  it.  Before  he 
had  attained  his  nineteenth  year  he  had  astonished  all 
the  professors  in  Edinburgh  by  his  profound  knowledge 
of  Greek  and  Latin,  and  the  general  mass  of  information 
he  had  acquired.  Having  turned  his  views  to  India,  he 
sought  employment  in  the  civil  service,  but  failed.  He 
was  however  informed  that  a  surgeon?s  assistant's  commis- 
sion was  open  to  him.  But  he  was  no  surgeon,  and  knew 
no  more  of  the  profession  than  a  child.  He  could  how- 
ever learn.  Then  he  was  told  that  he  must  be  ready  (o 
pass  in  six  months  !  Nothing  daunted,  he  set  to  work,  to 
acquire  in  six  months  what  usually  requires  three  years. 
At  the  end  of  six  months  he  took  his  degree  with  honor. 
Scott  and  a  few  friends  helped  to  fit  him  out;  and  he 
16 


3G2  PROFESSOR  LEE.  CHAP.  XI 

sailed  for  India,  after  publishing  his  beautiful  poem  "The 
Scenes  of  Infan3y."  In  India  he  promised  to  become  one 
of  the  greatest  of  oriental  scholars,  but  unhappily  he  was 
cut  off  by  fever  caught  by  exposure,  and  died  at  an  early 
ago. 

But  perhaps  the  life  of  the  late  Dr.  Lee,  Professor  cf 
Hebrew,  at  Cambridge,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable instances  in  modern  times  of  the  power  of 
perseverance  and  resolute  purpose  in  working  out  an 
honorable  career  in  literature.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion at  a  charity-school  at  Lognor,  near  Shrewsbury,  but 
so  little  distinguished  himself  there,  that  his  master  pro- 
nounced him  to  be  one  of  the  dullest  boys  that  ever 
passed  through  his  hands.  He  was  put  apprentice  to  a 
carpenter,  and  worked  at  that  trade  until  he  arrived  at 
manhood.  To  occupy  his  leisure  hours  he  took  to 
reading ;  and,  some  of  the  books  containing  Latin  quo- 
tations, he  became  desirous  of  ascertaining  what  they 
meant.  He  bought  a  Latin  Grammar,  and  proceeded  to 
learn  Latin.  As  Stone,  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  gardener, 
said,  long  before,  "  Does  one  need  to  know  anything  more 
than  the  twenty-four  letters,  in  order  to  learn  everything 
else  that  one  wishes  ?  "  Lee  rose  early  and  sat  up  late, 
and  he  succeeded  in  mastering  the  Latin  before  his  ap- 
prenticeship was  out.  Whilst  working  one  day  in  some 
place  of  worship,  a  copy  of  a  Greek  Testament  fell  in 
his  way,  and  he  was  immediately  filled  with  the  desire  t« 
learn  this  language  too.  He  accordingly  sold  some  of 
his  Latin  books,  and  purchased  a  Greek  Grammar  and 
Lexicon.  He  took  pleasure  in  learning,  and  he  soon 
learned  the  language.  Then  he  sold  his  Greek  books, 
and  bought  Hebrew  ones,  and  learned  that  language, 
unassisted  by  any  instructor,  without  any  hope  of  fame 


CHAP.  XI.  PROFESSOR  LEE.  3C3 

or  reward,  but  simply  following  the  bent  of  his  genius. 
He  next  proceeded  to  master  the  Chaldee,  Syriac,  and 
Samaritan  dialects.  But  his  studies  began  to  tell  upon 
his  health,  and  brought  on  disease  in  his  eyes  through 
his  long  night  watchings  with  his  books.  Having  laid 
them  aside  for  a  time  and  recovered  his  health,  he  went 
on  with  his  daily  work.  His  character  as  a  tradesman 
being  excellent,  his  business  improved,  and  his  means 
enabled  him  to  marry,  which  he  did  when  twenty-eight 
years  old.  He  determined  now  to  devote  himself  to  the 
maintenance  of  his  family,  and  to  renounce  his  luxury  of 
book-learning ;  accordingly  he  sold  all  his  books.  He 
might  have  continued  a  working  carpenter  all  his  life, 
had  not  the  chest  of  tools  upon  which  he  depended  for 
subsistence  been  consumed  by  fire,  and  destitution  stared 
him  in  the  face.  He  was  too  poor  to  buy  new  tools,  so 
he  bethought  him  of  teaching  children  their  letters ;  a 
profession  requiring  the  least  possible  capital.  But 
though  he  had  mastered  many  languages,  he  was  so 
defective  in  the  common  branches  of  knowledge,  that  at 
first  he  could  not  teach  them.  Resolute  of  purpose,  how- 
ever, he  assiduously  set  to  work,  and  taught  himself  arith- 
metic and  writing  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  able  to 
impart  the  knowledge  of  these  branches  to  little  children. 
His  unaffected,  simple,  and  beautiful  character  gradually 
attracted  friends,  and  the  acquirements  of  the  "  learned 
carpenter  "  became  bruited  abroad.  Dr.  Scott,  a  neigh- 
boring clergyman,  obtained  for  him  the  appointment  of 
master  of  a  charity-school  in  Shrewsbury,  and  introduced 
him  to  a  distinguished  Oriental  scholar.  These  friends 
supplied  him  with  books,  and  Lee  successively  mastered 
the  Arabic,  Persic,  and  Hindostanee  languages.  He 
continued  to  pursue  his  studies  while  on  permanent  duty 


364  LATE  LEARNERS.  CHAI   XI 

in  the  local  militia  of  the  county ;  gradually  acquiring 
greater  proficiency  in  languages.  At  length  his  kind 
patron,  Dr.  Scott,  enabled  him  to  enter  Queen's  College 
Cambridge  ;  and  after  a  course  of  study,  in  which  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  mathematical  acquirements, 
a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  professorship  of  Arabic  and 
Hebrew,  he  was  worthily  elected  to  fill  the  honorable 
office.  Besides  ably  performing  his  duties  as  a  professor 
he  voluntarily  gave  much  of  his  time  to  the  instruction 
of  missionaries  going  forth  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  east- 
ern tribes  in  their  own  tongue.  He  also  made  transla- 
tions of  the  Bible  in  several  Asiatic  dialects ;  and  having 
mastered  the  New  Zealand  tongue,  he  arranged  a  Gram- 
mar and  Vocabulary  for  two  New  Zealand  Chiefs  who 
were  then  in  England,  which  books  are  now  in  daily  use 
in  the  New  Zealand  schools.  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  re- 
markable history  of  Dr.  Samuel  Lee ;  and  it  is  but  the 
counterpart  of  many  similarly  instructive  examples  of 
the  power  of  perseverance  in  self-culture,  as  displayed  in 
the  lives  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished  of  our  liter- 
ary and  scientific  men.* 

There  are  many  more  illustrious  names  which  might 
be  cited  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  common  saying  that 
"  it  is  never  too  late  to  learn."  Even  at  advanced  years 
men  can  do  much,  if  they  will  determine  on  making  a 
beginning.  Sir  Henry  Spelman  did  not  begin  the  study 
of  science  until  he  was  between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of 
age.  Franklin  was  fifty  before  he  fully  entered  upon 
the  study  of  Natural  Philosophy.  Dryden  and  Scott 
were  not  known  as  authors  until  each  was  in  his  fortieth 
year.  Boccaccio  was  thirty-five  when  he  entered  upon 

*  See  the  admirable  and  well-known  book,  "  The  Pursuit  of  Knowl- 
edge under  Difficulties." 


CHAP.  XL  EARLY  CLEVERNESS.  305 

bis  literary  career,  and  Alfieri  was  forty-six  when  he 
commenced  the  study  of  Greek.  Dr.  Arnold  learnt 
German  at  an  advanced  age,  for  the  purpose  of  reading 
Niebuhr  in  the  original ;  and  in  like  manner  James  Watt, 
when  about  forty,  while  working  at  his  trade  of  an  instru- 
ment-maker in  Glasgow,  learnt  French,  German,  and 
Italian,  to  enable  himself  to  peruse  the  valuable  works 
on  mechanical  philosophy  in  these  languages.  Robert 
Hall  was  once  found  lying  upon  the  floor,  racked  by  pain, 
learning  Italian  in  his  old  age,  to  enable  him  to  judge 
of  the  parallel  drawn  by  Macaulay  between  Milton  and 
Dante.  Handel  was  forty-eight  before  he  published  any 
of  his  great  works.  Indeed  hundreds  of  instances  might 
be  given  of  men  who  struck  out  an  entirely  new  path, 
and  successfully  entered  on  new  studies,  at  a  compara- 
tively advanced  time  of  life.  None  but  the  frivolous  or 
the  indolent  will  say,  "  I  am  too  old  to  learn." 

And  here  we  would  repeat  what  we  have  said  before, 
that  it  is  not  men  of  genius  who  move  the  world,  and 
take  the  lead  in  it,  but  men  of  steadfastness,  purpose,  and 
indefatigable  industry.  Notwithstanding  the  many  curi- 
ous stories  which  have  been  told  about  the  infancy  of 
men  of  genius,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  early  clever- 
ness is  no  test  whatever  of  the  height  to  which  the  grown 
man  will  reach.  Precocity  is  quite  as  often  a  symptom 
of  disease  as  an  indication  of  intellectual  vigor  in  youth. 
What  becomes  of  all  the  "  remarkably  clever  children  ?  " 
Where  are  all  the  duxes  and  prize  boys  ?  Trace  them 
through  life,  and  it  will  often  be  found  that  the  dull  boys, 
who  were  invariably  beaten  at  school,  have  shot  ahead 
of  them.  The  clever  boys  are  rewarded,  but  the  prizes 
which  they  gain  by  their  greater  quickness  and  facility, 
rarely  prove  of  service  to  them.  What  ought  rather  to 


366  ILLUSTRIOUS  DUNCES.  CHAP.  XI. 

be  rewarded  is,  the  endeavor,  the  struggle,  and  the  obedi- 
ence ;  for  it  is  the  youth  who  does  his  best  though  en- 
dowed with  an  inferiority  of  natural  powers,  that  ought 
above  all  others  to  be  encouraged. 

An  interesting  chapter  might  be  written  on  the  sub- 
ject of  illustrious  dunces,  —  dull  boys,  but  brilliant  men. 
We  have  room,  however,  for  only  a  few  instances.  Pie- 
tro  di  Cortona,  the  painter,  was  thought  so  stupid  that 
he  was  nicknamed  "  Ass's  Head "  when  a  boy ;  and 
Tomaso  Guidi  was  generally  known  as  "  heavy  Tom " 
(Massaccio  Tomasaccio),  though  by  diligence  he  after- 
wards raised  himself  to  the  highest  eminence.  Newton, 
when  at  school,  stood  at  the  bottom  of  the  lowermost 
form  but  one.  The  boy  above  Newton  having  kicked 
him,  the  dunce  showed  his  pluck  by  challenging  him  to  a 
fight,  and  beat  him.  Then  he  set  to  work  with  a  will, 
and  determined  also  to  vanquish  his  antagonist  as  a 
scholar,  which  he  did,  rising  to  the  top  of  his  class. 
Many  of  our  greatest  divines  have  been  anything  but 
precocious.  Isaac  Barrow,  when  a  boy  at  the  Charter- 
house School,  was  notorious  chiefly  for  his  strong  temper, 
pugnacious  habits,  and  proverbial  idleness  as  a  scholar ; 
and  he  caused  such  grief  to  his  parents,  that  his  father 
used  to  say  that  if  it  pleased  God  to  take  from  him  any 
of  his  children,  he  hoped  it  might  be  Isaac,  the  least 
promising  of  them  all.  Adam  Clarke,  when  a  boy,  was 
proclaimed  by  his  father  to  be  "  a  grievous  dunce ; " 
though  he  could  roll  large  stones  about.  Dean  Swift, 
one  of  the  greatest  writers  of  pure  English,  was 
"  plucked "  at  Dublin  University,  and  only  obtained  his 
recommendation  to  Oxford  "  special!  gratia."  The  well- 
known  Dr.  Chalmers  and  Dr.  Cook  *  were  boys  together 

#  Late  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  at  St.  Andrew's. 


CHAP.  XI.    SHEfilDAN.  —  CHATTERTON.  -  CLIVE.  3G7 

at  the  parish  school  of  St.  Andrew's ;  and  they  were 
found  so  stupid  and  mischievous,  that  the  master,  irri- 
tated beyond  measure,  dismissed  them  both  as  incor- 
rigible dunces. 

The  brilliant  Sheridan  showed  so  little  capacity  as  a 
boy,  that  he  was  presented  to  a  tutor  by  his  mother  with 
the  complimentary  accompaniment,  that  he  was  an  incor- 
rigible dunce.  Walter  Scott  was  all  but  a  dunce  when 
a  boy,  always  much  readier  for  a  "  bicker,"  than  apt  at 
his  lessons.  At  the  Edinburgh  University,  Professor 
Dalzell  pronounced  upon  him  the  sentence  that  "  Dunce 
he  was,  and  dunce  he  would  remain."  Chatterton  was 
returned  on  his  mother's  hands  as  "a  fool,  of  whom 
nothing  could  be  made."  Burns  was  a  dull  boy,  good 
only  at  athletic  exercises.  Goldsmith  spoke  of  himself 
as  a  plant  that  flowered  late.  Alfieri  left  college  no 
wiser  than  he  entered  it,  and  did  not  begin  the  studies  by 
which  he  distinguished  himself,  until  he  had  run  half 
over  Europe.  Robert  Clive  was  a  dunce,  if  not  a  repro- 
bate, when  a  youth ;  but  always  full  of  energy,  even  in 
badness.  His  family,  glad  to  get  rid  of  him,  shipped  him 
off  to  Madras  ;  and  he  lived  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
British  power  in  India.  Napoleon  and  Wellington  were 
both  dull  boys,  not  distinguishing  themselves  in  any  way 
at  school.*  Of  the  former  the  Duchess  d'Abrantes  says, 
"  he  had  good  health,  but  was  in  other  respects  like 

*  A  writer  in  the  "Edinburgh  Review,"  (July,  1859,)  observes 
that  "  the  Duke's  talents  seem  never  to  have  developed  themselves, 
until  some  active  and  practical  field  for  their  display  was  placed  im- 
mediately before  him.  He  was  long  described  by  his  Spartan  mother, 
Who  thought  him  a  dunce,  as  only  '  food  for  powder.'  He  gained  no 
eort  of  distinction,  either  at  Eton  or  at  the  French  Military  College 
of  Angers."  It  is  not  improbable  that  a  competitive  examination,  at 
Jus  day,  might  have  excluded  him  from  the  army. 


368  STOKY  OF  A  DUNCE.  CHAP.  XI. 

other  boys."  John  Howard,  the  Philanthropist,  was  an- 
other illustrious  dunce,  learning  next  to  nothing  during 
the  seven  years  that  he  was  at  school.  Stephenson,  as  a 
youth,  was  distinguished  chiefly  for  his  skill  at  putting 
and  wrestling,  and  attention  to  his  work.  The  brilliant 
Sir  Humphry  Davy  was  no  cleverer  than  other  boys ; 
his  teacher,  Mr.  Davies  Gilbert,  said  of  him,  "  while  he 
was  with  me,  I  could  not  discern  the  faculties  by  which 
he  was  so  much  distinguished."  Indeed,  he  himself  in 
after-life  considered  it  fortunate  that  he  had  been  left  to 
"  enjoy  so  much  idleness "  at  school.  Watt  was  a  dull 
scholar,  notwithstanding  the  pretty  stories  told  about  his 
precocity  ;  but  he  was,  what  was  better,  patient  and  per- 
severant,  and  it  was  by  that  means,  and  by  his  carefully 
cultivated  inventiveness,  that  he  was  enabled  to  perfect 
his  steam-engine. 

What  Dr.  Arnold  said  of  boys  is  equally  true  of  men, 
—  that  the  difference  between  one  boy  and  another  con- 
sists not  so  much  in  talent  as  in  energy.  Given  perse- 
verance, and  energy  soon  becomes  habitual.  Provided 
the  dunce  has  persistency  and  application,  he  will  inev- 
itably head  the  cleverer  fellow  without  these  qualities. 
Slow  but  sure,  wins  the  race.  It  is  perseverance  that 
explains  how  the  position  of  boys  at  school  is  so  often 
reversed  in  real  life ;  and  it  is  curious  to  note  how  some 
who  were  then  so  clever  have  since  become  so  common- 
place ;  whilst  others,  dull  boys,  of  whom  nothing  was 
expected,  slow  in  their  faculties  but  sure  in  their  pace, 
have  assumed  the  position  of  leaders  of  men.  The  au-> 
thor  of  this  book,  when  a  boy,  stood  in  the  same  class 
with  one  of  the  greatest  of  dunces.  One  teacher  after 
another  had  tried  his  skill  upon  him  and  failed.  Cor- 
poral punishment,  the  fool's  cap,  coaxing,  and  earnesl 


CHAP.  XI.  SUCCESS  DEPENDS  ON  PEKSEVERANCE.   369 

entreaty,  proved  alike  fruitless.  Sometimes  the  experi- 
ment was  tried  of  putting  him  at  the  top  of  his  class, 
and  it  was  curious  to  note  the  rapidity  with  which  he 
gravitated  to  the  inevitable  bottom,  like  a  lump  of  lead 
passing  through  quicksilver.  The  youth  was  given  up 
by  many  teachers  as  an  incorrigible  dunce,  —  one  of 
them  pronouncing  him  to  be  "  a  stupendous  booby." 
Yet,  slow  though  he  was,  this  dunce  had  a  sort  of  dull 
energy  of  purpose  in  him,  which  grew  with  his  muscles 
and  his  manhood ;  and,  strange  to  say,  when  he  at  length 
came  to  take  part  in  the  practical  business  of  life,  he  was 
found  heading  most  of  his  school  companions,  and  event- 
ually left  the  greater  number  of  them  far  behind.  The 
last  time  the  author  heard  of  him,  he  was  chief  magistrate 
of  his  native  town.  The  tortoise  in  the  right  road,  will 
beat  a  racer  in  the  wrong.  It  matters  not  though  a  youth 
be  slow,  if  he  be  but  diligent.  Quickness  of  parts  may 
even  prove  a  defect,  inasmuch  as  the  boy  who  learns 
readily  will  often  forget  quite  as  readily  ;  and  also  because 
he  finds  no  need  of  cultivating  that  quality  of  application 
and  perseverance  which  the  slower  youth  is  compelled  to 
exercise,  and  which  proves  so  valuable  an  element  in  the 
formation  of  every  character.  Davy  said,  "  What  I  am  I 
have  made  myself;"  and  the  same  holds  true  univer- 
sally. The  highest  culture  is  not  obtained  from  teachers 
wh  sn  at  school  or  college,  so  much  as  by  our  own  dili- 
gent self-education  when  we  have  become  men.  Hence 
parents  need  not  be  in  too  great  haste  to  see  their  chil- 
dren's talents  forced  into  bloom.  Let  them  watch  and 
wait  patiently,  letting  good  example  and  quiet  training 
do  their  work,  and  leave  the  rest  to  Providence.  Let 
them  see  to  it  that  the  youth  is  provided,  by  free  exer- 
cise of  his  bodily  powers,  with  a  full  stock  of  physical 


370   SUCCESS  DEPENDS  ON  PERSEVERANCE.  CHAP.  XI. 

health  ;  set  him  fairly  on  the  road  of  self-culture  ;  care- 
fully train  his  habits  of  application  and  perseverance  ; 
and  as  he  grows  older,  if  the  right  stuff  be  in  him,  he 
will  be  enabled  vigorously  and  effectively  to  cultivate 
himself. 


CHAP.  XII.  FORCE   OF  EXAMPLE.  371 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EXAMPLE,  —  MODELS. 

"  Ever  their  phantoms  rise  before  us, 

Our  loftier  brothers,  but  one  in  blood ; 
By  bed  and  table  they  lord  it  o'er  us, 

With  looks  of  beauty  and  words  of  good."—  John  Stealing. 

"  There  is  no  action  of  man  in  this  life,  which  is  not  the  beginning  of  so  long 
*  chain  of  consequences,  as  that  no  human  providence  is  high  enough  to  give 
us  a  prospect  to  the  end." —  Thomas  of  Malmesbury. 

EXAMPLE  is  one  of  the  most  potent  of  instructors, 
though  it  teaches  without  a  tongue.  It  is  the  practical 
school  of  mankind,  working  by  action,  which  is  always 
more  forcible  than  words.  Precept  may  point  to  us  the 
way,  but  it  is  silent  continuous  example,  conveyed  to  us 
by  habits,  and  living  with  us  in  fact,  that  carries  us  along. 
Good  advice  has  its  weight ;  but  without  the  accompani- 
ment of  a  good  example,  it  is  of  comparatively  small 
influence ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  common  saying 
of  "  Do  as  I  say,  not  as  I  do,"  is  usually  reversed  in  the 
actual  experience  of  life. 

All  persons  are  more  or  less  apt  to  learn  through  the 
eye,  rather  than  the  ear ;  and,  whatever  is  seen  in  fact, 
makes  a  far  deeper  impression  than  anything  that  is  read 
or  heard.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  early  youth, 
when  the  eye  is  the  chief  inlet  of  knowledgej  Whatever 
children  see,  they  unconsciously  imitate ;  and  they  insen- 
sibly become  like  to  those  who  are  about  them,  —  like 
insects  which  take  the  color  of  the  leaves  they  feed  on. 


372  PARENTAL  EXAMPLE.  CHAP.  XII. 

Hence  the  vast  importance  of  domestic  training.  For 
whatever  may  be  the  efficiency  of  our  schools,  the  ex 
amples  set  in  our  Homes  must  always  be  of  vastly 
greater  influence  in  forming  the  characters  of  our  future 
men  and  women.  The  Home  is  the  crystal  of  society, 
—  the  very  nucleus  of  national  character ;  and  from 
that  source,  be  it  pure  or  tainted,  issue  the  habits,  prin- 
ciples, and  maxims,  which  govern  public  as  well  as 
private  life.  The  nation  comes  from  the  nursery ;  pub- 
lic opinion  itself  is  for  the  most  part  the  outgrowth  of 
the  home ;  and  the  best  philanthropy  comes  from  the 
fireside.  "  To  love  the  little  platoon  we  belong  to  in 
society,"  says  Burke,  "  is  the  germ  of  all  public  affec- 
tions." From  this  little  central  spot,  the  human  sym- 
pathies may  extend  in  an  ever  widening  circle,  until 
the  world  is  embraced ;  for,  though  true  philanthropy, 
like  charity,  begins  at  home,  assuredly  it  does  not  end 
there. 

Example  in  conduct,  therefore,  even  in  apparently 
trivial  matters,  is  of  no  light  moment,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
constantly  becoming  inwoven  with  the  lives  of  others, 
and  contributing  to  form  their  characters  for  better  or 
for  worse.  The  characters  of  parents  are  thus  con- 
stantly repeated  in  their  children ;  and  the  acts  of  af- 
fection, discipline,  industry,  and  self-control,  which  they 
daily  exemplify,  live  and  act  when  all  else  which  they 
may  have  learned  through  the  ear  has  long  been  forgot- 
ten, Even  the  mute  action  and  unconscious  look  of  a 
parent  may  give  a  stamp  to  the  character,  which  is 
never  effaced ;  and  who  can  tell  how  much  evil  act  has 
been  stayed  by  the  thought  of  some  good  parent,  whose 
memory  their  children  may  not  sully  by  the  commission 
of  an  unworthy  deed,  or  the  indulgence  of  an  impure 


CHAP.  XII.  PARENTAL  EXAMPLE.  373 

thought  ?  The  Vv  riest  trifles  thus  become  of  importance 
in  influencing  the  characters  of  men.  "  A  kiss  from  my 
mother,"  said  West,  "  made  me  a  painter."  It  is  on  the 
direction  of  such  seeming  trifles  when  children,  that  the 
future  happiness  and  success  of  men  mainly  depend. 
Fowell  Buxton,  when  occupying  an  eminent  and  influen- 
tial station  in  life,  wrote  to  his  mother,  "  I  constantly 
feel,  especially  in  action  and  exertion  for  others,  the  ef- 
fects of  principles  early  implanted  by  you  in  my  mind." 
Buxton  was  also  accustomed  to  remember  with  gratitude 
the  obligations  which  he  owed  to  an  illiterate  man,  a 
game-keeper,  named  Abraham  Plastow,  with  whom  he 
played,  and  rode,  and  sported  —  a  man  who  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  but  was  full  of  natural  good  sense  and 
mother-wit.  "What  made  him  particularly  valuable," 
says  Buxton,  "  were  his  principles  of  integrity  and  honor. 
He  never  said  or  did  a  thing  in  the  absence  of  my 
mother  of  which  she  would  have  disapproved.  He  al- 
ways held  up  the  highest  standard  of  integrity,  and  filled 
our  youthful  minds  with  sentiments  as  pure  and  as  gen- 
erous as  could  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Seneca  or 
Cicero.  Such  was  my  first  instructor,  and,  I  must  add, 
my  best." 

Lord  Langdale,  looking  back  upon  the  admirable 
example  set  him  by  his  mother,  declared,  "  If  the 
whole  world  were  put  into  one  scale,  and  my  mother 
into  the  other,  the  world  would  kick  the  beam."  Mrs. 
Schimmel  Penninck,  in  her  old  age,  was  accustomed 
to  call  to  mind  the  personal  influence  exercised  by 
her  mother  upon  the  society  amidst  which  she  moved. 
When  she  entered  a  room,  it  had  the  effect  of  imme- 
diately raising  the  tone  of  the  conversation,  and  as 
if  purifying  the  moral  atmosphere, — all  seeming  to 


374  ACTS  AND  CONSEQUENCES.  CHAP.  XII. 

breathe  more  freely,  and  stand  more  erectly.  "  In  her 
presence,"  says  the  daughter,  "  I  became  for  the  time 
transformed  into  another  person."  So  much  does  the 
moral  health  depend  upon  the  moral  atmosphere  that  is 
breathed,  and  so  great  is  the  influence  daily  exercised 
by  parents  over  their  children  by  living  a  life  before 
their  eyes,  that  perhaps  the  best  system  of  parental  in- 
struction might  be  summed  up  in  these  two  words: 
"Improve  thyself." 

There  is  something  solemn  and  awful  in  the  thought 
that  there  is  not  an  act  nor  thought  in  the  life  of  a  human 
being  but  carries  with  it  a  train  of  consequences,  the  end 
of  which  we  may  never  trace.  Not  one  but,  to  a  certain 
extent,  gives  a  color  to  our  own  life,  and  insensibly  in- 
fluences the  lives  of  those  about  us.  The  good  deed  or 
thought  will  live,  even  though  we  may  not  see  it  fructify, 
but  so  will  the  bad ;  and  no  person  is  so  insignificant  as 
to  be  sure  that  his  example  will  not  do  good  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  evil  on  the  other.  There  is,  indeed,  an  es- 
sence of  immortality  in  the  life  of  man,  even  in  this 
world.  No  individual  in  the  universe  stands  alone ;  he 
is  a  component  part  of  a  system  of  mutual  dependencies ; 
and  by  his  several  acts,  he  either  increases  or  diminishes 
the  sum  of  human  good  now  and  forever.  As  the  pres- 
ent is  rooted  in  the  past,  and  the  lives  and  examples  of 
dur  forefathers  still  to  a  great  extent  influence  us,  so  are 
we  by  our  daily  acts  contributing  to  form  the  condition 
and  character  of  the  future.  The  living  man  is  a  fruit 
formed  and  ripened  by  the  culture  of  all  the  foregoing 
centuries.  Generations  six  thousand  years  deep  stand 
behind  us,  each  laying  its  hands  upon  its  successor's 
shoulders,  and  the  living  generation  continues  the  mag- 
netic current  of  acfion  and  example  destined  to  bind  the 


CHAP.  XII  ACTS  AND   CONSEQUENCES.  375 

remotest  past  with  the  most  distant  future.  No  man's 
acts  die  utterly ;  and  though  his  body  may  resolve  into 
dust  and  air,  his  good  or  his  bad  deeds  will  still  be  bring- 
ing forth  fruit  after  their  kind,  and  influencing  generations 
of  men  for  all  time  to  come.  It  is  in  this  momentous 
and  solemn  fact,  that  the  great  peril  and  responsibility  of 
human  existence  lies. 

Mr.  Babbage  has  so  powerfully  expressed  this  idea  in 
a  noble  passage  in  one  of  has  writings,  that  we  here  ven- 
ture to  quote  his  words :  "  Every  atom,"  he  says,  "  im- 
pressed with  good  or  ill,  retains  at  once  the  motions  which 
philosophers  and  sages  have  imparted  to  it,  mixed  and 
combined  in  ten  thousand  ways  with  all  that  is  worthless 
and  base ;  the  air  itself  is  one  vast  library,  on  whose 
pages  are  written  forever  all  that  man  has  ever  said  or 
whispered.  There,  in  their  immutable  but  unerring 
characters,  mixed  with  the  earliest  as  well  as  the  latest 
sighs  of  mortality,  stand  forever  recorded  vows  unre- 
deemed, promises  unfulfilled ;  perpetuating,  in  the  united 
movements  of  each  particle,  the  testimony  of  man's 
changeful  will.  But,  if  the  air  we  breathe  is  the  never- 
failing  historian  of  the  sentiments  we  have  uttered,  earth, 
air,  and  ocean,  are,  in  like  manner,  the  eternal  witnesses 
of  the  acts  we  have  done ;  the  same  principle  of  the 
equality  of  action  and  reaction  applies  to  them.  No  mo- 
tion impressed  by  natural  causes,  or  by  human  agency,  is 

ever  obliterated If  the  Almighty  stamped  on  the 

brow  of  the  first  murderer  the  indelible  and  visible  mark 
of  his  guilt,  He  has  also  established  laws  by  which  every 
succeeding  criminal  is  not  less  irrevocably  chained  to  the 
testimony  of  his  crime ;  for  every  atom  of  his  mortal 
frame,  through  whatever  changes  its  severed  particles 
may  migrate,  will  still  retain  adhering  to  it,  through 


376      DUTY    OF  SETTING  A   GOOD  EXAMPLE.     CHAP.  XII 

every  combination,  some  movement  derived  from  that 
very  muscular  effort  by  which  the  crime  itself  was  per 
petrated." 

Thus,  every  act  we  do  or  word  we  utter,  as  well  as 
every  act  we  witness  or  word  we  hear,  carries  with  it  an 
influence  which  extends  over,  and  gives  a  color,  not  only 
to  the  whole  of  our  future  life,  but  makes  itself  felt  upon 
the  whole  frame  of  society.  We  may  not,  and  indeed 
cannot  possibly  trace  the  influence  working  itself  into 
action  in  its  various  ramifications  amongst  our  children, 
our  friends,  or  associates ;  yet  there  it  is  assuredly,  work- 
ing on  forever.  And  herein  lies  the  great  significance 
if  setting  forth  a  good  example,  —  a  silent  teaching 
which  even  the  poorest  and  least  significant  person  can 
enforce  by  his  daily  life.  There  is  no  one  so  humble, 
but  that  he  owes  to  others  this  simple  but  priceless  in- 
struction. Even  the  meanest  condition  may  thus  be 
made  useful ;  for  the  light  set  in  a  low  place  shines  as 
faithfully  as  that  set  upon  a  hill.  Everywhere,  and  un- 
der almost  all  circumstances,  however  externally  adverse, 
—  in  moorland  shielings,  in  cottage  hamlets,  in  the  close 
alleys  of  great  towns,  —  the  true  man  may  grow.  He 
who  tills  a  space  of  earth  scarce  bigger  than  is  needed 
for  his  grave,  may  work  as  faithfully,  and  to  as  good 
purpose,  as  the  heir  to  thousands.  The  commonest 
workshop  may  thus  be  a  school  of  industry,  science,  and 
good  morals,  on  the  one  hand ;  or  of  idleness,  folly,  and 
depravity,  on  the  other.  It  all  depends  on  the  individual 
men,  and  the  use  they  make  of  the  opportunities  for  good 
which  offer  themselves. 

A  life  well  spent,  a  character  uprightly  sustained,  is  no 
slight  legacy  to  leave  to  one's  children,  and  to  the  world ; 
for  it  is  the  most  eloquent  lesson  of  virtue  and  the  se- 


CHAP.  XII  DOING,  NOT  TELLING.  377 

verest  reproof  of  vice,  while  it  continues  an  enduring 
source  of  the  best  kind  of  riches.  Well  for  those  who 
can  say,  as  Pope  did,  in  rejoinder  to  the  sarcasms  of 
Lord  Hervey,  "  I  think  it  enough  that  my  parents,  such 
as  they  were,  never  cost  me  a  blush,  and  that  their  son, 
such  as  he  is,  never  cost  them  a  tear." 

It  is  not  enough  to  tell  others  what  they  are  to  do,  but 
to  exhibit  the  actual  example  of  doing.  What  Mrs. 
Chisholm  described  to  Mrs.  Stowe  as  the  secret  of  her 
success,  applies  to  all  life.  "  I  found,"  she  said,  "  that  if 
we  want  anything  done,  we  must  go  to  work  and  do;  it 
is  of  no  use  merely  to  talk,  —  none  whatever."  It  is 
poor  eloquence  that  only  shows  how  a  person  can  talk. 
Had  Mrs.  Chisholm  gone  about  lecturing,  her  project, 
she  was  persuaded,  would  never  have  got  beyond  the 
region  of  talk ;  but  when  people  saw  what  she  was  doing 
and  had  actually  accomplished,  they  fell  in  with  her 
views  and  came  forward  to  help  her.  Hence  the  most 
beneficent  worker  is  not  he  who  says  the  most  eloquent 
things,  or  even  who  thinks  the  most  loftily,  but  he  who 
does  the  most  eloquent  acts. 

True-hearted  persons,  even  in  the  humblest  station  in 
life,  who  are  energetic  doers,  may  thus  give  an  impulse 
to  good  works  out  of  all  proportion,  apparently,  to  their 
actual  station  in  society.  Thomas  Wright  might  have 
talked  about  the  reclamation  of  criminals,  and  John 
Pounds  about  the  necessity  for  Ragged  Schools,  and  yet 
have  done  nothing ;  instead  of  which  they  simply  set  to 
work  without  any  other  idea  in  their  minds  than  that 
of  doing,  not  talking.  And  how  the  example  of  even 
the  poorest  man  may  tell  upon  society,  hear  what  Dr. 
Guthrie,  the  apostle  of  the  Ragged  School  movement, 
says  of  the  influence  which  the  example  of  John  Pounds, 


378  JOHN  POUNDS.  CHAP.  XII 

the  humble  Portsmouth  cobbler,  exercised  upon  his  own 
working  career :  — 

"  The  interest  I  have  been  led  to  take  in  this  cause  is 
an  example  of  how,  in  Providence,  a  man's  destiny,— 
his  course  of  life,  like  that  of  a  river,  —  may  be  deter- 
mined and  affected  by  very  trivial  circumstances.  It  is 
rather  curious,  —  at  least  it  is  interesting  to  me  to  re- 
member,—  that  it  was  by  a  picture  I  was  first  led  to 
take  an  interest  in  ragged  schools,  —  by  a  picture  in  an 
old,  obscure,  decaying  burgh  that  stands  on  the  shores  of 
the  Frith  of  Forth,  the  birthplace  of  Thomas  Chalmers. 
I  went  to  see  this  place  many  years  ago,  and,  going  into 
an  inn  for  refreshment,  I  found  the  room  covered  with 
pictures  of  shepherdesses  with  their  crooks,  and  sailors  in 
holiday  attire,  not  particularly  interesting.  But  above 
the  chimney-piece  there  was  a  large  print,  more  re- 
spectable than  its  neighbors,  which  represented  a  cob- 
bler's room.  The  cobbler  was  there  himself,  spectacles 
on  nose,  an  old  shoe  between  his  knees,  —  the  massive 
forehead  and  firm  mouth  indicating  great  determination 
of  character,  and,  beneath  his  bushy  eyebrows,  benevo- 
lence gleamed  out  on  a  number  of  poor  ragged  boys  and 
girls  who  stood  at  their  lessons  round  the  busy  cobbler. 
My  curiosity  was  awakened;  and  in  the  inscription  I 
read  how  this  man,  John  Pounds,  a  cobbler  in  Ports- 
mouth, taking  pity  on  the  multitude  of  poor  ragged  chil- 
dren left  by  ministers  and  magistrates,  and  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  to  go  to  ruin  on  the  streets,  —  how,  like  a 
good  shepherd,  he  gathered  in  these  wretched  outcasts, — 
how  he  had  trained  them  to  God  and  to  the  world,  —  and 
how,  while  earning  his  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow,  he  had  rescued  from  misery  and  saved  to  society  not 
less  than  five  hundred  of  these  children.  I  felt  ashamed 


CHAP.  XH.  JOHN  POUNDS.  379 

of  myself.  I  felt  reproved  for  the  little  I  had  done.  My 
feelings  were  touched.  I  was  astonished  at  this  man's 
achievements ;  and  I  well  remember,  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  moment,  saying  to  my  companion  (and  I  have  seen 
in  my  cooler  and  calmer  moments  no  reason  for  unsaying 
the  saying),  —  'That  man  is  an  honor  to  humanity,  and 
deserves  the  tallest  monument  ever  raised  within  the 
shores  of  Britain.'  I  took  up  that  man's  history,  and  I 
found  it  animated  by  the  spirit  of  Him  who  had  '  com- 
passion on  the  multitude.'  John  Pounds  was  a  clever 
man  besides  ;  and,  like  Paul,  if  he  could  not  win  a  poor 
boy  any  other  way,  he  won  him  by  art.  He  would  be 
seen  chasing  a  ragged  boy  along  the  quays,  and  com- 
pelling him  to  come  to  school,  not  by  the  power  of 
a  policeman,  but  by  the  power  of  a  hot  potato.  He 
knew  the  love  an  Irishman  had  for  a  potato ;  and  John 
Pounds  might  be  seen  running  holding  under  the  boy's 
nose  a  potato,  like  an  Irishman,  very  hot,  and  with  a 
coat  as  ragged  as  himself.  When  the  day  comes  when 
honor  will  be  done  to  whom  honor  is  due,  I  can  fancy 
the  crowd  of  those  whose  fame  poets  have  sung,  and  to 
whose  memory  monuments  have  been  raised,  dividing 
like  the  wave,  and,  passing  the  great,  and  the  noble,  and 
the  mighty  of  the  land,  this  poor,  obscure  old  man  step- 
ping forward  and  receiving  the  especial  notice  of  Him 
who  said,  *  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  one  of  the  least  of 
these,  ye  did  it  also  to  Me.'" 

We  never  can  tell  where  a  good  example  may  fall, 
or  in  what  direction  it  may  operate.  Even  the  sight 
of  patient,  uncomplaining  industry  on  the  part  of  weak 
and  humble  persons,  —  working  on  and  trying  to  do 
their  best  in  the  position  of  life  in  which  Providence 
has  placed  them,  —  may  be  of  service  to  many  a  work- 


380  GOOD  MODELS   OF  CHAKACTER.       CHAP.  XII. 

er  with  higher  ends.  We  have  heard  of  a  young  sur- 
geon in  a  country  place  engaged  in  the  up-hill  work 
of  establishing  a  practice,  who  began  to  feel  as  if  he 
must  sink  under  it  in  despair.  But  once,  when  visiting 
a  patient,  he  took  occasion  to  remark  how  often  he  ha<* 
seen  certain  lights  in  an  opposite  window,  very  late  at 
night.  He  was  told  that  the  room  with  the  lights  was 
occupied  by  two  girls,  dressmakers,  who  had  been  re- 
duced to  great  distress  by  their  father's  misconduct ; 
"  and  now,"  said  the  informant,  "  they  are  working  day 
and  night  to  make  their  way  against  misfortune  as 
well  as  they  can."  The  young  surgeon  took  the  words 
home  with  him,  and  when  he  felt  disposed  to  complain 
of  the  world,  the  thought  of  these  hard-working  girls 
invigorated  and  cheered  him;  and  by  giving  him  new 
courage,  just  as  he  was  sinking,  their  example,  he  used 
afterwards  to  say,  proved  invaluable  to  him. 

The  education  of  character  is  very  much  a  question 
of  models ;  we  mould  ourselves  so  unconsciously  after 
the  characters,  manners,  habits,  and  opinions  of  those 
who  are  about  us.  Good  rules  may  do  much,  but 
good  models  far  more;  for  in  the  latter  we  have  in- 
struction in  action,  —  wisdom  at  work.  Good  admo- 
nition and  bad  example  only  build  with  one  hand 
to  pull  down  with  the  other.  Hence  the  vast  im- 
portance of  exercising  great  care  in  the  selection  of 
companions,  especially  in  youth.  There  is  a  magnetic 
affinity  in  young  persons  which  insensibly  tends  to 
assimilate  them  to  each  other's  likeness.  Mr.  Ed«-e- 

O 

worth  was  so  strongly  convinced  that  from  sympathy 
they  involuntarily  imitated  or  caught  the  tone  of  the 
company  they  frequented,  that  he  held  it  to  be  of  the 
jnost  essential  importance  that  they  should  be  taught 


CHAP.  XII.        GOOD  MODELS  OF   CHARACTER.  381 

to  select  the  very  best  models.  "  No  company,  or  good 
company,"  was  his  motto.  Lord  Collingwood,  writing  to 
a  young  friend,  said,  "  Hold  it  as  a  maxim  that  you  had 
better  be  alone  than  in  mean  company.  Let  your  com- 
panions be  such  as  yourself,  or  superior ;  for  the  worth 
of  a  man  will  always  be  ruled  by  that  of  his  company." 
As  Sir  Peter  Lely  made  it  a  rule  never  to  look  at  a  bad 
picture  if  he  could  help  it,  believing  that  whenever  he 
did  so  his  pencil  caught  a  taint  from  it,  so,  whoever 
chooses  to  gaze  often  upon  a  debased  specimen  of  hu- 
manity and  to  frequent  his  society,  cannot  help  gradually 
assimilating  himself  to  that  sort  of  model. 

It  is  therefore  advisable  for  young  men  to  seek  the 
fellowship  of  the  good,  and  always  to  aim  at  a  higher 
standard  than  themselves.  Francis  Horner,  speaking 
of  the  advantages  to  himself  of  direct  personal  inter- 
course with  high-minded,  intelligent  men,  said :  "  I  can- 
not hesitate  to  decide  that  I  have  derived  more  intel- 
lectual improvement  from  them  than  from  all  the  books 
I  have  turned  over."  Lord  Shelburne  (afterwards  Mar- 
quis of  Lansdowne),  when  a  young  man,  paid  a  visit 
to  the  venerable  Malesherbes,  and  was  so  much  im- 
pressed by  it,  that  he  said :  "  I  have  travelled  much, 
but  I  have  never  been  so  influenced  by  personal  con- 
tact with  any  man ;  and  if  I  ever  accomplish  any  good 
in  the  course  of  my  life,  I  am  certain  that  the  recol- 
lection of  M.  de  Malesherbes  will  animate  my  soul." 
So  Fowell  Buxton  was  always  ready  to  acknowledge 
the  powerful  influence  exercised  upon  the  formation  of 
his  character  in  early  life,  by  the  example  of  the  Gur- 
ney  family :  "  It  has  given  a  color  to  my  life,"  he 
used  to  say.  Speaking  of  his  success  at  the  Dublin 
University,  he  confessed,  "I  can  ascribe  it  to  nothing 


382         PERSONAL  INFLUENCE  OF  STERLING.    CHAP.  XII. 

but  my  Earlham  visits."  It  was  from  the  Gurneys  lie 
"caught  the  infection"  of  self-improvement. 

Contact  with  the  good  never  fails  to  impart  good, 
and  we  carry  away  with  us  some  of  the  blessing,  as 
travellers'  garments  retain  the  odor  of  the  flowers  and 
shrubs  through  which  they  have  passed.  Those  who 
knew  the  late  John  Sterling  intimately,  have  spoken 
of  the  beneficial  influence  which  he  exercised  on  all 
with  whom  he  came  into  personal  contact.  Many  owed 
to  him  their  first  awakening  to  a  higher  being ;  from 
him  they  learned  what  they  were,  and  what  they  ought 
to  be.  Mr.  Trench  says  of  him  :  "  It  was  impossible 
to  come  in  contact  with  his  noble  nature  without  feel- 
ing one's  self  in  some  measure  ennobled  and  lifted  up, 
as  I  ever  felt  when  I  left  him,  into  a  higher  region 
of  objects  and  aims  than  that  in  which  one  is  tempted 
habitually  to  dwell."  It  is  thus  that  the  noble  charac- 
ter always  acts;  we  become  lifted  and  lighted  up  in 
him,  —  we  cannot  help  being  borne  along  by  him  and 
acquiring  the  habit  of  looking  at  things  in  the  same 
light;  such  is  the  magical  action  and  reaction  of  minds 
upon  each  other. 

Artists,  also,  feel  themselves  elevated  by  contact  with 
artists  greater  than  themselves.  Thus  Haydn's  genius 
was  first  fired  by  Handel.  Hearing  him  play,  his  ar- 
dor for  musical  composition  was  at  once  excited,  and 
but  for  the  circumstance,  Haydn  himself  believed  that 
he  would  never  have  written  the  "  Creation."  Speak- 
ing of  Handel,  he  said,  "  When  he  chooses,  he  strikes 
like  the  thunderbolt;"  and  at  another  time,  "There  is 
.lot  a  note  of  him  but  draws  blood."  Scarlatti  was 
another  of  Handel's  ardent  admirers,  following  him  all 
over  Italy;  afterwards,  when  speaking  of  the  great 


CHAP.  XII.  EXAMPLE   OF  THE  BRAVE.  383 

master,  he  would  cross  himself  in  token  of  admiration. 
True  artists  never  fail  generously  to  recognize  each 
other's  greatness.  Thus  Beethoven's  admiration  for 
Cherubini  was  regal ;  and  he  ardently  hailed  the  gen- 
ius of  Schubert :  "  Truly,"  said  he,  "  in  Schubert  dwells 
a  divine  fire."  When  Northcote  was  a  mere  youth  he 
had  such  an  admiration  for  Reynolds  that,  when  the 
great  painter  was  once  attending  a  public  meeting 
down  in  Devonshire,  the  boy  pushed  through  the  crowd, 
and  got  so  near  Reynolds  as  to  touch  the  skirt  of  his 
coat,  "  which  I  did,"  says  Northcote,  "  with  great  satis- 
faction to  my  mind," — a  true  touch  of  youthful  enthu- 
siasm in  its  admiration  of  genius. 

The  example  of  the  brave  is  an  inspiration  to  the 
timid,  their  presence  thrilling  through  every  fibre.  Hence 
the  miracles  of  valor  so  often  performed  by  ordinary  men 
under  the  leadership  of  the  heroic.  The  very  recollection 
of  the  deeds  of  the  valiant  stirs  men's  blood  like  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet.  Ziska  bequeathed  his  skin  to  be 
used  as  a  drum  to  inspire  the  valor  of  the  Bohemians. 
When  Scanderbeg,  prince  of  Epirus,  was  dead,  the  Turks 
wished  to  possess  his  bones,  that  each  might  wear  a  piece 
next  his  heart,  hoping  thus  to  secure  some  portion  of  the 
courage  he  had  displayed  while  living,  and  which  they 
had  so  often  experienced  in  battle.  When  the  gallant 
Douglas,  bearing  the  heart  of  Bruce  to  the  Holy  Land, 
saw  one  of  his  knights  surrounded  and  sorely  pressed  by 
the  Saracens  in  battle,  he  took  from  his  neck  the  silver 
case  containing  the  hero's  bequest,  and  throwing  it  amidst 
the  thickest  press  of  his  foes,  cried  :  "  Pass  first  in  fight, 
as  thou  wert  wont  to  do,  and  Douglas  will  follow  thee,  or 
die ; "  and  so  saying,  he  rushed  forward  to  the  place 
where  it  fell,  and  was  there  slain. 


384  CHIEF   USE  OF  BIOGRAPHY.  CHAP.  XII. 

The  chief  use  of  biography  consists  in  the  noble  mod- 
els of  character  in  which  it  abounds.  Our  great  fore- 
fathers still  live  among  us  in  the  records  of  their  lives, 
as  well  as  in  the  acts  they  have  done,  and  which  live  also ; 
still  sit  by  us  at  table,  and  hold  us  by  the  hand ;  furnish- 
ing examples  for  our  benefit,  which  we  may  still  study, 
admire,  and  imitate.  Indeed,  whoever  has  left  behind 
him  the  record  of  a  noble  life,  has  bequeathed  to  posterity 
an  enduring  source  of  good,  for  it  lives  as  a  model  for 
others  to  form  themselves  by  in  all  time  to  come ;  still 
breathing  fresh  life  into  us,  helping  us  to  reproduce  his 
life  anew,  and  to  illustrate  his  character  in  other  forms. 
Hence  a  book  containing  the  life  of  a  true  man  is  full  of 
precious  seed  ;  to  use  Milton's  words,  "  it  is  the  precious 
lifeblood  of  a  master-spirit,  embalmed  and  treasured  up 
on  purpose  to  a  life  beyond  life."  Such  a  book  never 
ceases  to  exercise  an  elevating  influence,  and  a  power  for 
good.  But,  above  all,  there  is  the  very  highest  Model 
and  Example  set  before  us  to  shape  our  lives  by  in  this 
world  —  the  most  suitable  for  all  the  necessities  of  our 
mind  and  heart  —  an  example  which  we  can  only  follow 
afar  off  and  feel  after, 

Like  plants  or  vines  which  never  saw  the  sun, 
But  dream  of  him  and  guess  where  he  may  be, 
And  do  their  best  to  climb  and  get  to  him. 

Again,  no  young  man  can  rise  from  the  perusal  of 
Buch  lives  as  those  of  Buxton  and  Arnold,  without  feel- 
ing his  mind  and  heart  made  better,  and  his  best  resolves 
invigorated.  Such  biographies  increase  a  man's  self- 
reliance  by  demonstrating  what  men  can  be,  and  what 
they  can  do  ;  fortifying  our  hopes  and  elevating  our  aims 
in  life.  Sometimes  a  young  man  discovers  himself  in  a 


CHAP.  XII.    LIVES  INFLUENCED  BY  BIOGRAPHY.  385 

biography,  as  Guido  felt  within  him  the  risings  of  genius 
on  contemplating  the  works  of  Michael  Angelo  :  "  And 
I,  too,  am  a  painter,"  he  exclaimed.  Sir  Samuel  llomilly, 
in  his  autobiography,  confessed  himself  to  have  been 
powerfully  influenced  by  the  life  of  the  great  and  noble- 
minded  French  Chancellor  Daguesseau  :  "  The  works 
of  Thomas,"  says  he,  "  had  fallen  into  my  hands,  and  I 
had  read  with  admiration  his  '  Eloge  of  Daguesseau  ; ' 
and  the  career  of  honor  which  he  represented  that  illus- 
trious magistrate  to  have  run,  excited  to  a  great  degree 
my  ardor  and  ambition,  and  opened  to  my  imagination 
new  paths  of  glory." 

Franklin  was  accustomed  to  attribute  his  usefulness 
and  eminence  to  his  having  early  read  Cotton  Mather's 
"Essays  to  do  Good,"  —  a  book  which  grew  out  of 
Mather's  own  life.  And  see  how  good  example  draws 
other  men  after  it,  and  propagates  itself  through  future 
generations  in  all  lands.  For  Samuel  Drew  avers  that 
he  framed  his  own  life,  and  especially  his  business  habits, 
after  the  model  left  on  record  by  Benjamin  Franklin. 
Thus  it  is  impossible  to  say  where  a  good  example  may 
not  reach,  or  where  it  will  end,  if  indeed  it  have  an  end. 
Hence  the  advantage,  in  literature  as  in  life,  of  keeping 
the  best  society,  reading  the  best  books,  and  wisely  ad- 
miring and  imitating  the  best  things  we  find  in  them. 
"  In  literature,"  said  Lord  Dudley,  "  I  am  fond  of  con- 
fining myself  to  the  best  company,  which  consists  chiefly 
of  my  old  acquaintance,  with  whom  I  am  desirous  of 
becoming  more  intimate ;  and  I  suspect  that  nine  times 
out  of  ten  it  is  more  profitable,  if  not  more  agreeable,  to 
read  an  old  book  over  again,  than  to  read  a  new  one  for 
the  first  time." 

Sometimes  a  book  containing  a  noble  exemplar  of  life, 
17 


386        LOYOLA.  —  LUTHER.  —  CAREY.    CHAP.  XII. 

taken  up  at  random,  merely  with  the  object  of  reading 
it  as  a  pastime,  has  been  known  to  call  forth  energies 
whose  existence  had  not  before  been  suspected.  Alfieri 
was  first  drawn  with  passion  to  literature  by  reading 
"  Plutarch's  Lives."  Loyola,  when  a  soldier  serving  at 
the  siege  of  Pampeluna,  and  laid  up  by  a  dangerous 
wound  in  his  leg,  asked  for  a  book  to  divert  his  thoughts ; 
the  "  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  was  brought  to  him,  and  its 
perusal  so  inflamed  his  mind,  that  he  determined  thence- 
forth to  devote  himself  to  the  founding  of  a  religious 
order.  Luther,  in  like  manner,  was  inspired  to  under- 
take the  great  labors  of  his  life  by  a  perusal  of  the  "  Life 
and  Writings  of  John  Huss."  Dr.  Wolff  was  stimulated 
to  enter  upon  his  missionary  career  by  reading  the  "  Life 
of  Francis  Xavier ; "  and  the  book  fired  his  youth- 
ful bosom  with  a  passion  the  most  sincere  and  ardent  to 
devote  himself  to  the  enterprise  of  his  life.  William 
Carey,  also,  got  the  first  idea  of  entering  upon  his  sub- 
lime labors  as  a  missionary,  from  a  perusal  of  the  Voy- 
ages of  Captain  Cook. 

Francis  Horner  was  accustomed  to  note  in  his  Diary 
and  letters  the  books  by  which  he  was  most  improved  and 
influenced.  Amongst  these  were  Condorcet's  "  Eloge  of 
Haller,"  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  "  Discourses,"  the  writ- 
ings of  Bacon,  and  Burnet's  account  of  Sir  Matthew 
Hale.  The  perusal  of  the  last-mentioned  book,  —  the 
portrait  of  a  prodigy  of  labor,  —  Horner  says,  filled  him 
with  enthusiasm.  Of  Condorcet's  "  Eloge  of  Haller," 
he  said :  "  I  never  rise  from  the  account  of  such  men 
without  a  sort  of  thrilling  palpitation  about  me,  which  I 
know  not  whether  I  should  call  admiration,  ambition,  of 
despair."  And,  speaking  of  the  "  Discourses "  of  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  he  said :  "  Next  to  the  writings  of 


CHAP.  XII.  CHEERFULNESS.  38T 

Bacon,  there  is  no  book  which  has  more  powerfully  im- 
pelled me  to  self-culture.  He  is  one  of  the  first  men  of 
genius  who  has  condescended  to  inform  the  world  of  the 
steps  by  which  greatness  is  attained  ;  the  confidence  with 
which  he  asserts  the  omnipotence  of  human  labor,  has 
the  effect  of  familiarizing  his  reader  with  the  idea  that 
genius  is  an  acquisition  rather  than  a  gift ;  whilst  with 
all  there  is  blended  so  naturally  and  eloquently  the  most 
elevated  and  passionate  admiration  of  excellence,  that 
upon  the  whole  there  is  no  book  of  a  more  inflammatory 
effect."  It  is  remarkable  that  Reynolds  himself  attrib- 
uted his  first  passionate  impulse  towards  the  study  of 
art,  to  reading  Richardson's  account  of  a  great  painter ; 
and  Haydon  was  in  like  manner  afterwards  inflamed 
to  follow  the  same  pursuit  by  reading  of  the  career 
of  Reynolds.  But  Haydon  failed  to  imitate  Reynolds's 
laboriousness  and  practical  prudence ;  and  though  he 
dreamt  of  favor,  fortune,  and  honors,  he  did  not  take 
the  pains,  by  diligent  cultivation  of  his  unquestionably 
great  powers,  effectually  to  secure  them.  Hence  his  life, 
notwithstanding  all  the  examples  which  artists  had  set 
him,  proved  an  egregious  failure. 

One  of  the  most  valuable,  and  one  of  the  most  in- 
fectious examples  which  can  be  set  before  the  young,  is 
that  of  cheerful  working.  Cheerfulness  gives  elasticity 
to  the  spirit.  Spectres  fly  before  it ;  difficulties  cause  no 
despair,  for  they  are  encountered  with  hope,  and  the 
mind  acquires  that  happy  disposition  to  improve  oppor- 
tunities which  rarely  fails  of  success.  The  fervent  spirit 
is  always  a  healthy  and  happy  spirit ;  working  cheerfully 
itself,  and  stimulating  others  to  work.  It  confers  a  dig- 
nity on  even  the  most  ordinary  occupations.  The  most 
effective  work,  also,  is  always  the  full-hearted  work,  — 


388  DE.  ARNOLD'S  INFLUENCE.  CHAP.  XII. 

that  which  passes  through  the  hands  or  the  head  of  him 
whose  heart  is  glad.  Hume  was  accustomed  to  say  that 
he  would  rather  possess  a  cheerful  disposition,  —  inclined 
always  to  look  at  the  bright  side  of  things,  —  than  witli  a 
gloomy  mind  to  be  the  master  of  an  estate  of  ten  thou- 
sand a  year.  Granville  Sharp,  amidst  his  indefatigable 
labors  on  behalf  of  the  slave,  solaced  himself  in  the 
evenings  by  taking  part  in  glees  and  instrumental  con- 
certs at  his  brother's  house,  singing,  or  playing  on  the 
flute,  the  clarionet,  or  the  oboe ;  and,  at  the  Sunday 
evening  oratorios  when  Handel  was  played,  he  beat  the 
kettle-drums.  He  also  indulged,  though  sparingly,  in 
caricature  drawing,  and  would  occasionally  sign  his  own 


name  in  musical  characters,  thus: 

Fowell  Buxton  also  was  an  eminently  cheerful  man  ;  tak- 
ing special  pleasure  in  field-sports,  in  riding  about  the 
country  with  his  children,  and  in  mixing  in  all  their 
domestic  amusements. 

In  another  sphere  of  action,  Dr.  Arnold  was  a  noble 
and  a  cheerful  worker,  throwing  himself  into  the  great 
business  of  his  life,  the  training  and  teaching  of  young 
men,  with  his  whole  heart  and  soul.  It  is  stated  in  his 
admirable  biography,  that  "  the  most  remarkable  thing 
m  the  Laleham  circle  was  the  wonderful  healthiness  of 
tone  which  prevailed  there.  It  was  a  place  where  a 
new-comer  at  once  felt  that  a  great  and  earnest  work 
was  going  forward.  Every  pupil  was  made  to  feel  that 
there  was  a  work  for  him  to  do ;  that  his  happiness,  as 
well  as  his  duty,  lay  in  doing  that  work  well.  Hence 
an  indescribable  zest  was  communicated  to  a  young 
man's  feeling  about  life ;  a  strange  joy  came  over  him 
on  discerning  that  he  had  the  means  of  being  useful, 


CHAP.  XIJ.  SIK  JOHN  SINCLAIR.  380 

and  thus  of  being  happy  ;  and  a  deep  respect  and  ardent 
attachment  sprang  up  towards  him  who  had  taught  him 
thus  to  value  life  and  his  own  self,  and  his  work  and 
mission  in  the  world.  All  this  was  founded  on  the 
breadth  and  comprehensiveness  of  Arnold's  character, 
as  well  as  its  striking  truth  and  reality ;  on  the  un- 
feigned regard  he  had  for  work  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
sense  he  had  of  its  value,  both  for  the  complex  aggre- 
gate of  society  and  the  growth  and  protection  of  the  in- 
dividual. In  all  this,  there  was  no  excitement ;  no 
predilection  for  one  class  of  work  above  another ;  no 
enthusiasm  for  any  one-sided  object ;  but  a  humble, 
profound,  and  most  religious  consciousness  that  work 
is  the  appointed  calling  of  man  on  earth ;  the  end  for 
which  his  various  faculties  were  given ;  the  element  in 
which  his  nature  is  ordained  to  develop  itself,  and  in 
which  his  progressive  advance  towards  heaven  is  to  lie." 
Among  the  many  valuable  men  trained  for  public  life 
and  usefulness  by  Arnold,  was  the  gallant  Hodson,  of 
Hodson's  Horse,  who,  writing  home  from  India,  many 
years  after,  thus  spoke  of  his  revered  master :  "  The 
influence  he  produced  has  been  most  lasting  and  strik- 
ing in  its  effects.  It  is  felt  even  in  India ;  I  cannot 
say  more  than  that." 

The  useful  influence  which  a  right-hearted  man  of 
energy  and  industry  may  exercise  amongst  his  neigh- 
bors and  dependants,  and  accomplish  for  his  country, 
cannot,  perhaps,  be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  career 
of  Sir  John  Sinclair ;  characterized  by  the  Abbe*  Gre- 
goire  as  "  the  most  indefatigable  man  in  Europe."  He 
was  originally  a  country  laird,  born  to  a  considerable 
estate  situate  near  John  o'  Groat's  house,  almost  be- 
yond the  beat  of  civilization,  in  a  bare  wild  country 


39C  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR.  CHAP.  XII. 

fronting  the  stormy  North  Sea.  His  father  dying  while 
he  was  a  youth  of  sixteen,  the  management  of  the  fam- 
ily property  thus  early  devolved  upon  him;  and  at 
eighteen  he  began  a  course  of  vigorous  improvement  in 
the  county  of  Caithness,  which  eventually  spread  all 
over  Scotland.  Agriculture  then  was  in  a  most  back- 
ward state ;  the  fields  were  uninclosed,  the  lands  un- 
drained;  the  small  farmers  of  Caithness  were  so  poor 
that  they  could  scarcely  afford  to  keep  a  horse  or  sheltie ; 
the  hard  work  was  chiefly  done,  and  the  burdens  borne 
by  the  women  ;  and  if  a  cottier  lost  a  horse,  it  was  not 
unusual  for  him  to  marry  a  wife  as  the  cheapest  substi- 
tute. The  country  was  without  roads  or  bridges;  and 
drovers  driving  their  cattle  south,  had  to  swim  the 
rivers  along  with  their  beasts.  The  chief  track  leading 
into  Caithness  lay  along  a  high  shelf  on  a  mountain  side, 
the  road  being  some  hundred  feet  of  clear  perpendicular 
height  above  the  sea  which  dashed  below.  Sir  John, 
though  a  mere  youth,  determined  to  make  a  new  road 
over  the  hill  of  Ben  Cheilt ;  the  old  let-alone  proprietors, 
however,  regarding  his  scheme  with  incredulity  and  de- 
rision. But  he  himself  laid  out  the  new  road,  assembled 
some  twelve  hundred  laborers  early  one  summer's  morn- 
ing, set  them  simultaneously  to  work,  watching  over 
their  labors,  and  stimulating  them  by  his  presence  and 
example ;  and  before  night,  what  had  been  a  dangerous 
sheep-track,  six  miles  in  length,  hardly  passable  for  led 
horses,  was  made  practicable  for  wheel-carriages,  as  if 
by  the  powers  of  magic.  It  was  an  admirable  example 
of  energy  and  well-directed  labor,  which  could  not  fail 
to  have  a  most  salutary  influence  upon  the  surrounding 
population.  He  then  proceeded  to  make  more  roads,  to 
erect  mills,  to  build  bridges,  and  to  inclose  and  cultivate 
his  waste  lands.  He  introduced  improved  methods  of 


CHAI.XII.  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR,  391 

culture,  and  regular  rotation  of  crops  ;  distributing  small 
premiums  to  encourage  industry;  and  he  thus  soon 
quickened  the  whole  frame  of  society  within  reach  of 
his  influence,  and  infused  an  entirely  new  life  into  the 
cultivators  of  the  soil.  From  being  one  of  the  most  in- 
accessible districts  of  the  north,  —  the  very  ultima  Thule 
of  civilization,  —  Caithness  became  a  pattern  county  for 
its  roads,  its  agriculture,  and  its  fisheries.  In  Sinclair's 
youth,  the  post  was  carried  by  a  runner  only  once  a 
week,  and  the  young  baronet  then  declared  that  he  would 
never  rest  till  a  coach  drove  daily  to  Thurso.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  neighborhood  could  not  believe  in  any  such 
thing,  and  it  became  a  proverb  in  the  county  to  say  of 
any  utterly  impossible  scheme,  "  Ou  ay,  that  will  come 
to  pass  when  Sir  John  sees  the  daily  mail  at  Thurso ! " 
But  Sir  John  lived  to  see  his  dream  realized,  and  the 
daily  mail  established  to  Thurso. 

The  circle  of  his  benevolent  operations  gradually 
widened.  Observing  the  serious  deterioration  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  quality  of  British  wool,  —  one 
of  the  staple  commodities  of  the  country,  —  he  forthwith, 
though  but  a  private  and  little-known  country  gentleman, 
devoted  himself  to  its  improvement.  By  his  personal 
exertions  he  established  the  British  Wool  Society  for 
the  purpose,  and  himself  led  the  way  to  practical  im- 
provement by  importing  800  sheep  from  all  countries, 
at  his  own  expense.  The  result  was,  the  introduction 
into  Scotland  of  the  celebrated  Cheviot  breed.  Sheep 
farmers  scouted  the  idea  of  south  country  flocks  being 
able  to  thrive  in  the  far  north.  But  Sir  John  perse- 
vered ;  and  in  a  few  years  there  were  not  fewer  than 
near  300,000  Cheviots  diffused  over  the  four  northern 
counties  alone.  The  value  of  all  grazing  land  was  thus 
enormously  increased  j  and  Scotch  estates,,  which  before 


332  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR.  CHAP.  XIL 

were  comparatively  worthless,  began  to  yield  large 
rentals. 

Returned  by  Caithness  to  Parliament,  in  which  he 
remained  for  thirty  years,  rarely  missing  a  division,  his 
position  gave  him  further  opportunities  of  usefulness, 
which  he  did  not  neglect  to  employ.  Mr.  Pitt,  ob- 
serving his  persevering  energy  in  all  useful  public  pro- 
jects, sent  for  him  to  Downing  Street,  and  voluntarily 
proposed  his  assistance  in  any  object  he  might  have  in 
view.  Another  man  might  have  thought  of  himself  and 
his  own  promotion ;  but  Sir  John  characteristically  re- 
plied, that  he  desired  no  favor  for  himself,  but  intimated 
that  the  reward  most  gratifying  to  his  feelings  would  be 
Mr.  Pitt's  assistance  in  the  establishment  of  a  National 
Board  of  Agriculture.  Arthur  Young  laid  a  bet  with 
the  baronet  that  his  scheme  would  never  be  established, 
adding,  "  Your  Board  of  Agriculture  will  be  in  the 
moon ! "  But  vigorously  setting  to  work,  he  roused 
public  attention  to  the  subject,  enlisted  a  majority  of 
Parliament  on  his  side,  and  eventually  established  the 
Board,  of  which  he  was  appointed  President.  The  re- 
sult of  its  action  need  not  be  described,  but  the  stimulus 
which  it  gave  to  agriculture  and  stock-raising  was  short- 
ly felt  throughout  the  whole  United  Kingdom,  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  acres  were  redeemed  from  barrenness 
by  its  operation.  He  was  equally  indefatigable  in  en- 
couraging the  establishment  of  fisheries ;  and  the  suc- 
cessful founding  of  these  great  branches  of  British  in- 
dustry at  Thurso  and  Wick  was  mainly  due  to  his 
exertions.  He  urged  for  long  years,  and  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining,  the  inclosure  of  a  harbor  for  the 
latter  place,  which  is  perhaps  the  greatest  and  most 
prosperous  fishing  town  in  the  world. 

Sir  John  threw  his  personal  energy  into  every  work  in 


CHAP.  XII.    HIS  MULTIFARIOUS  OCCUPATIONS.  303 

which  he  engaged,  rousing  the  inert,  stimulating  the  idle, 
encouraging  the  hopeful,  and  working  with  all.  When 
a  French  invasion  was  threatened,  he  offered  to  Mr,  Pitt 
to  raise  a  regiment  on  his  own  estate,  and  he  was  as  good 
as  his  word.  He  went  down  to  the  north,  and  raised  a 
battalion  of  600  men,  afterwards  increased  to  1,000  ;  and 
it  was  admitted  to  be  one  of  the  finest  volunteer  regi- 
ments ever  raised,  inspired  throughout  by  his  own  noble 
and  patriotic  spirit.  While  commanding  officer  of  the 
camp  at  Aberdeen,  he  held  the  offices  of  a  Director  of 
the  Bank  of  Scotland,  Chairman  of  the  British  Wool 
Society,  Provost  of  Wick,  Director  of  the  British  Fishery 
Society,  Commissioner  for  issuing  Exchequer  Bills,  Mem- 
ber of  Parliament  for  Caithness,  and  President  of  the 
Board  of  Agriculture.  Amidst  all  this  multifarious  and 
self-imposed  work,  he  even  found  time  to  write  books, 
enough  of  themselves  to  establish  a  reputation.  When 
Mr.  Rush,  the  American  ambassador,  arrived  in  Eng- 
land, he  relates  that  he  inquired  of  Mr.  Coke  of  Hoik- 
ham,  what  was  the  best  work  on  agriculture,  and  was 
referred  to  Sir  John  Sinclair's ;  and  when  he  further 
asked  of  Mr.  Vansittart,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
what  was  the  best  work  on  British  finance,  he  was  again 
referred  to  a  work  by  Sir  John  Sinclair,  his  "  History  of 
the  Public  Revenue."  But  the  great  monument  of  his 
indefatigable  industry,  a  work  that  would  have  appalled 
other  men,  but  only  served  to  nerve  and  rouse  his  energy, 
was  his  "  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,"  in  twenty-one 
volumes,  one  of  the  most  valuable  practical  works  ever 
published  in  any  age  or  country.  Amidst  a  host  of  other 
pursuits,  it  occupied  him  nearly  eight  years  of  hard  labor, 
during  which  he  received,  and  attended  to,  upwards  of 
20,000  letters  on  the  subject.  It  was  a  thoroughly  patri- 
otic undertaking,  from  which  he  derived  no  personal  ad- 
17* 


394  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR.  CHAP.  XII. 

vantage  whatever,  beyond  the  honor  of  having  completed 
it.  The  whole  of  the  profits  were  assigned  by  him  to 
the  Society  for  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  in  Scotland.  The 
publication  of  the  book  led  to  great  public  improvements  ; 
it  was  followed  by  the  immediate  abolition  of  several 
oppressive  feudal  rights,  to  which  it  called  attention ;  the 
salaries  of  schoolmasters  and  clergymen  in  many  parishes 
were  increased ;  and  an  increased  stimulus  was  given  to 
agriculture  throughout  Scotland.  Sir  John  then  publicly 
offered  to  undertake  the  much  greater  labor  of  collecting 
and  publishing  a  similar  Statistical  Account  of  England  ; 
but  unhappily  the  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  refused 
to  sanction  it,  lest  it  should  interfere  with  the  tithes  of  the 
clergy. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  his  energetic  promptitude 
was  the  manner  in  which  he  once  provided,  on  a  great 
emergency,  for  the  relief  of  the  manufacturing  districts. 
In  1793  the  stagnation  produced  by  the  war  led  to  an 
unusual  number  of  bankruptcies,  and  many  of  the  first 
houses  in  Manchester  and  Glasgow  were  tottering,  not 
so  much  from  want  of  property,  but  because  the  usual 
sources  of  trade  and  credit  were  for  the  time  closed  up. 
A  period  of  intense  distress  amongst  the  laboring  classes 
seemed  imminent,  when  Sir  John  urged,  in  Parliament, 
that  Exchequer  Notes  to  the  amount  of  five  millions 
should  be  issued  immediately  as  a  loan  to  such  mer- 
chants as  could  give  security.  This  suggestion  was 
adopted,  and  his  offer  to  carry  out  his  plan,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  certain  members  named  by  him,  was  also  ac- 
cepted. The  vote  was  passed  late  at  night,  and  early 
next  morning  Sir  John,  anticipating  the  delays  of  official- 
ism and  red  tape,  proceeded  to  bankers  in  the  city,  and 
borrowed  of  them,  on  his  own  personal  security,  the  sum 
of  70,000/.,  which  he  dispatched  the  same  evening  to 


CHAP.  XII.        HIS  ENERGETIC  PROMPTITUDE.  395 

those  merchants  who  were  in  the  most  urgent  need  of 
assistance.  Pitt  meeting  Sir  John  in  the  House,  ex- 
pressed his  great  regret  that  the  pressing  wants  of  Man- 
chester and  Glasgow  could  not  be  supplied  so  soon  aa 
was  desirable,  adding,  "  The  money  cannot  be  raised  for 
some  days."  "  It  is  already  gone !  it  left  London  by 
to-night's  mail !  "  was  Sir  John's  triumphant  reply  ;  and 
in  afterwards  relating  the  anecdote  he  added,  with  a 
smile  of  pleasure,  "  Pitt  was  as  much  startled  as  if  I  had 
stabbed  him."  To  the  last  this  great,  good  man  worked 
on  usefully  and  cheerfully ;  setting  a  great  example  for 
bis  family  and  for  his  country.  In  so  laboriously  seeking 
others'  good,  it  might  be  said  that  he  found  his  own,  — 
not  wealth,  for  his  generosity  seriously  impaired  his  pri- 
vate fortune,  but  happiness,  and  self-satisfaction,  and  the 
peace  that  passes  knowledge.  A  great  patriot,  with 
magnificent  powers  of  work,  he  nobly  did  his  duty  to  his 
country  ;  yet  he  was  not  neglectful  of  his  own  household 
and  home.  His  sons  and  daughters  grew  up  to  honor 
and  usefulness  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  proudest  things 
Sir  John  could  say,  when  verging  on  his  eightieth  year, 
*hat  he  had  lived  to  see  seven  sons  grow  up,  not  one  of 
whom  had  incurred  a  debt  he  could  not  pay,  or  caused 
him  a  sorrow  that  could  have  been  avoided. 


396    CHAEACTER  THE  NOBLEST  POSSESSION.  CHAP.  XIII. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

CHARACTER. THE    TRUE    GENTLEMAN. 

i 

"  For  who  can  always  act  ?    but  he, 
To  whom  a  thousand  memories  call, 
Not  being  less  but  more  than  all 
The  gentleness  he  seemed  to  be, 
But  seemed  the  thing  he  was,  and  join'd 
Each  office  of  the  social  hour 
To  noble  manners,  as  the  flower 
And  native  growth  of  noble  mind  ; 
And  thus  he  bore  without  abuse 

The  grand  old  name  of  Gentleman."  —  Tennyson. 

"  Everything  in  Asia,  —public  safety,  national  honor,  personal  reputation, 
—  rests  upon  the  force  of  individual  character.  .  .  The  officer  who  forgets 
that  he  is  a  gentleman,  does  more  harm  to  the  moral  influence  of  this  country 
than  ten  men  of  blameless  life  can  do  good."  —  Lord  Stanley  to  the  Studintt 
at  Addiscombe. 

THE  crown  and  glory  of  life  is  Character)  It  is  the 
noblest  possession  of  a  man,  constituting  a  rank  in  itself, 
and  an  estate  in  the  general  good-will ;  dignifying  every 
station,  and  exalting  every  position  in  society.  It  exer- 
cises a  greater  power  than  wealth,  and  secures  all  the 
honor  without  the  jealousies  of  fame.  It  carries  with  it 
an  influence  which  always  tells ;  for  it  is  the  result  of 
proved  honor,  rectitude,  and  consistency,  —  qualities 
which,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  command  the  gen- 
eral confidence  and  respect  of  mankind. 

Character  is  human  nature  in  its  best  form.  It  is  moral 
order  embodied  In  the  individual.  Men  of  character 
are  not  only  the  conscience  of  society,  but  in  every  well- 


CI/AP.  Xin.  FRANCIS  HORNEB.  397 

governed  state  they  are  its  best  motive  power ;  for  it  is 
moral  qualities  in  the  main,  which  rule  the  world.  Even 
in  war,  Napoleon  said  the  moral  is  to  the  physical  as 
ten  to  one.  The  strength,  the  industry,  and  the  civiliza- 
tion of  nations,  —  all  depend  upon  individual  character ; 
and  the  very  foundations  of  civil  security  rest  upon  it. 
Laws  and  institutions  are  but  its  outgrowth.  In  the  just 
balance  of  nature,  individuals,  and  nations,  and  races, 
will  obtain  just  so  much  as  they  deserve,  and  no  more. 
And  as  effect  finds  its  cause,  so  surely  does  quality  of 
character  amongst  a  people  produce  its  befitting  results. 

Though  a  man  have  comparatively  little  culture,  slen- 
der abilities,  and  but  small  wealth,  yet,  if  his  character 
be  of  sterling  worth,  he  will  always  command  an  influ- 
ence, whether  it  be  in  the  workshop,  the  counting-house, 
the  mart,  or  the  senate.  Canning  wisely  wrote  in  1801, 
"  My  road  must  be  through  Character  to  power ;  I  will 
try  no  other  course  ;  and  I  am  sanguine  enough  to 
believe  that  this  course,  though  not  perhaps  the  quick- 
est, is  the  surest."  You  may  admire  men  of  intel- 
lect; but  something  more  is  necessary  before  you  will 
trust  them.  Hence  Lord  John  Russell  once  observed, 
in  a  sentence  full  of  truth,  "  It  is  the  nature  of  party  in 
England  to  ask  the  assistance  of  men  of  genius,  but  to 
follow  the  guidance  of  men  of  character."  This  was 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  career  of  the  late  Francis 
Homer,  — a  man  of  wnom  Sydney  Smith  said  that  the 
Ten  Commandments  were  stamped  upon  his  counte- 
nance. "  The  valuable  and  peculiar  light,"  says  Lord 
Cockburn,  "  in  which  his  history  is  calculated  to  inspire 
every  right-minded  youth,  is  this.  He  died  at  the  ago 
of  thirty-eight;  possessed  of  greater  public  influence 
than  any  other  private  man ;  and  admired,  belove  I 


398  FRANKLIN.  CHAP.  XIII. 

trusted,  and  deplored  by  all,  except  the  heartless  or  the 
base.  No  greater  homage  was  ever  paid  in  Parlia- 
ment to  any  deceased  member.  Now  let  every  young 
man  ask, —  how  was  this  attained  ?  By  rank  ?  He  was 
the  son  of  an  Edinburgh  merchant.  By  wealth  ?  Nei- 
ther he,  nor  any  of  his  relations,  ever  had  a  superflu- 
ous sixpence.  By  office  ?  He  held  but  one,  and  only 
for  a  few  years,  of  no  influence,  and  with  very  little 
pay.  By  talents  ?  His  were  not  splendid,  and  he  had 
no  genius.  Cautious  and  slow,  his  only  ambition  was 
to  be  right.  By  eloquence  ?  He  spoke  in  calm,  good 
taste,  without  any  of  the  oratory  that  either  terrifies  or 
seduces.  By  any  fascination  of  manner  ?  His  was  only 
correct  and  agreeable.  By  what  then  was  it?  Merely 
by  sense,  industry,  good  principles,  and  a  good  heart,  — 
qualities,  which  no  well-constituted  mind  need  ever  de- 
spair of  attaining.  It  was  the  force  of  his  character 
that  raised  him;  and  this  character  not  impressed  upon 
him  by  nature,  but  formed  out  of  no  peculiarly  fine  ele- 
ments, by  himself.  There  were  many  in  the  House  of 
Commons  of  far  greater  ability  and  eloquence.  But  no 
one  surpassed  him  in  the  combination  of  an  adequate 
portion  of  these  with  moral  worth.  Horner  was  born 
to  show  what  moderate  powers,  unaided  by  anything 
whatever  except  culture  and  goodness,  may  achieve, 
even  when  these  powers  are  displayed  amidst  the  com- 
petition and  jealousy  of  public  life." 

Franklin,  also,  attributed  his  success  as  a  public 
man,  not  to  his  talents  or  his  powers  of  speaking, — 
for  these  were  but  moderate,  —  but  to  his  known  in- 
tegrity of  character.  "  Hence  it  was,"  he  says,  "  that 
I  had  so  much  weight  with  my  fellow-citizens.  I  was 
but  a  bad  speaker,  never  eloquent,  subject  to  much 


CHAP.  XIII.  CHARACTER  IS  POWER.  399 

hesitation  in  my  choice  of  words,  hardly  correct  in  lan- 
guage, and  yet  I  generally  carried  my  point."  Char- 
acter creates  confidence  in  men  in  high  station  as  well 
as  in  humble  life.  It  was  said  of  the  first  Emperor 
Alexander  of  Russia,  that  his  personal  character  was 
equivalent  to  a  constitution.  During  the  wars  of  the 
Fronde,  Montaigne  was  the  only  man  amongst  the 
French  gentry  who  kept  his  castle  gates  unbarred ;  and 
it  was  said  of  him,  that  his  personal  character  was 
worth  more  to  him  than  a  regiment  of  horse. 

That  character  is  power,  is  true  in  a  much  higher 
sense  than  that  knowledge  is  power.  Mind  without 
heart,  intelligence  without  conduct,  cleverness  without 
goodness,  are  powers  in  their  way,  but  they  may  be 
powers  only  for  mischief.  We  may  be  instructed  or 
amused  by  them ;  but  it  is  sometimes  as  difficult  to 
admire  them  as  it  would  be  to  admire  the  dexterity 
of  a  pickpocket  or  the  horsemanship  of  a  highwayman. 

Truthfulness,  integrity,  and  goodness,  —  qualities  that 
hang  not  on  any  man's  breath,  —  form  the  essence  of 
manly  character,  or,  as  one  of  our  old  writers  has  it, 
"that  inbred  loyalty  unto  Virtue  which  can  serve  her 
without  a  livery."  He  who  possesses  these  qualities, 
united  with  strength  of  purpose,  carries  with  him  a 
power  which  is  irresistible.  He  is  strong  to  do  good, 
strong  to  resist  evil,  and  strong  to  bear  up  under  dif 
ficulty  and  misfortune.  When  Stephen  of  Colonna  fel 
into  the  hands  of  his  base  assailants,  and  they  asked  him 
in  derision,  "Where  is  now  your  fortress?"  "Here," 
was  his  bold  reply,  placing  his  hand  upon  his  heart. 
It  is  in  misfortune  that  the  character  of  the  upright 
man  shines  forth  with  the  greatest  lustre;  and  when 
all  else  fails,  he  takes  stand  upon  his  integrity  and  his 
courage. 


400  A  HIGH  STAND AED   OF  LIFE.        CHAP.  XIII. 

The  rules  of  conduct  followed  by  Lord  Erskine  —  a 
man  of  sterling  independence  of  principle  and  scrupulous 
adherence  to  truth— ~  are  worthy  of  being  engraven  on 
every  young  man's  heart.  "  It  was  a  first  command 
and  counsel  of  my  earliest  youth,"  he  said,  "  always  to 
do  what  my  conscience  told  me  to  be  a  duty,  and  to 
leave  the  consequence  to  God.  I  shall  carry  with  me 
the  memory,  and  I  trust  the  practice,  of  this  parental 
lesson  to  the  grave.  I  have  hitherto  followed  it,  and 
I  have  no  reason,  to  complain  that  my  obedience  to 
it  has  been  a  temporal  sacrifice.  I  have  found  it,  on 
the  contrary,  the  road  to  prosperity  and  wealth,  and  I 
shall  point  out  the  same  path  to  my  children  for  their 
pursuit." 

Every  man  is  bound  to  aim  at  the  possession  of  a 
good  character,  as  one  of  the  highest  objects  of  life. 
The  very  effort  to  secure  it  by  worthy  means  will  fur- 
nish him  with  a  motive  for  exertion ;  and  his  idea  of 
manhood,  in  proportion  as  it  is  elevated,  will  steady 
and  animate  his  motive.  It  is  well  to  have  a  high 
standard  of  life,  even  though  we  may  not  be  able  alto- 
gether to  realize  it.  "The  youth,"  says  Mr.  Disra- 
eli, "  who  does  not  look  up  will  look  down ;  and  the 
spirit  that  does  not  soar  is  destined  perhaps  to  grovel." 
George  Herbert  wisely  writes, 

"  1'itch  thy  behavior  low,  thy  projects  high, 

So  shall  thou  humble  and  magnanimous  be. 
Sink  not  in  spirit;   who  aimeth  at  the  sky 

Shoots   higher  much  than  he  that  means  a  tree." 

He  who  has  a  high  standard  of  living  and  thinking 
will  certainly  do  better  than  he  who  'has  none  at  all. 
"Pluck  at  a  gown  of  gold,"  says  the  Scotch  proverb, 
"  and  you  may  get  a  sleeve  o't."  Whoever  tries  for 


CHAP.  XIII.    WELLINGTON'S  CHARACTER  OF  PEEL.        401 

the  highest  results  cannot  fail  to  reach  a  point  far  in 
advance  of  that  from  which  he  started ;  and  though  the 
end  accomplished  may  fall  short  of  that  proposed,  still, 
the  very  effort  to  rise,  of  itself  cannot  fail  to  prove 
permanently  beneficial. 

There  are  many  counterfeits  of  character,  but  the 
genuine  article  is  difficult  to  be  mistaken.  Some,  know- 
ing its  money  value,  would  assume  its  disguise  for  the 
purpose  of  imposing  upon  the  unwary.  Colonel  Char- 
teris  said  to  a  man  distinguished  for  his  honesty,  "  I 
would  give  a  thousand  pounds  for  your  good  name." 
"  Why  ?  "  "  Because  I  could  make  ten  thousand  by 
it,"  was  the  knave's  reply. 

Integrity  in  word  and  deed  is  the  backbone  of  char- 
acter; and  loyal  adherence  to  veracity  its  most  promi- 
nent characteristic.  One  of  the  finest  testimonies  to 
the  character  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel,  was  that 
borne  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  a  few  days  after  the  great  statesman's  death. 
"  Your  lordships,"  he  said,  "  must  all  feel  the  high 
and  honorable  character  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel. 
I  was  long  connected  with  him  in  public  life.  We 
were  both  in  the  councils  of  our  Sovereign  together, 
and  I  had  long  the  honor  to  enjoy  his  private  friend- 
ship. In  all  the  course  of  my  acquaintance  with  him, 
I  never  knew  a  man  in  whose  truth  and  justice  I 
had  greater  confidence,  or  in  whom  I  saw  a  more  in- 
variable desire  to  promote  the  public  service.  In  the 
whole  course  of  my  communication  with  him,  I  never 
knew  an  instance  in  which  he  did  not  show  the  strong- 
est attachment  to  truth  ;  and  I  never  saw  in  the  whole 
course  of  my  life  the  smallest  reason  for  suspecting 
that  he  stated  anything  which  he  did  not  firmly  bo 


402  BE  WHAT  YOU  SEEM.  CHAP.  XIII. 

lieve  to  be  the  fact."  And  this  high-minded  truthful- 
ness of  the  statesman  was  no  doubt  the  secret  of  no 
small  part  jf  his  influence  and  power. 

There  is  a  truthfulness  in  action  as  well  as  in  words, 
which  is  essential  to  uprightness  of  character.  A  man 
must  really  be  what  he  seems  or  purposes  to  be.  When 
an  American  gentleman  wrote  to  Granville  Sharp,  that 
from  respect  for  his  great  virtues  he  had  named  one  of 
his  sons  after  him,  Sharp  wrote :  "  I  must  request  you  to 
teach  him  a  favorite  maxim  of  the  family  whose  name 
you  have  given  him,  —  Always  endeavor  to  be  really  what 
$ou  would  wish  to  appear.  This  maxim,  as  my  father 
informed  me,  was  carefully  and  humbly  practised  by 
his  father,  whose  sincerity,  as  a  plain  and  honest  man, 
thereby  became  the  principal  feature  of  his  character, 
both  in  public  and  private  life."  Every  man  who  re- 
spects himself,  and  values  the  respect  of  others,  will 
carry  out  the  maxim  in  act,  —  doing  honestly  what  he 
proposes  to  do,  —  putting  the  highest  character  into  his 
work,  scamping  nothing,  but  priding  himself  upon  his 
integrity  and  conscientiousness.  Once  Cromwell  said  to 
Bernard,  —  a  clever  but  somewhat  unscrupulous  lawyer, 
"  I  understand  that  you  have  lately  been  vastly  wary  in 
your  conduct ;  do  not  be  too  confident  of  this ;  subtlety 
may  deceive  you,  integrity  never  will."  Men  whose  acts 
are  at  direct  variance  with  their  words,  command  no 
respect,  and  what  they  say  has  but  little  weight ;  even 
truths,  when  uttered  by  them,  seem  to  come  blasted  from 
their  lips. 

The  true  character  acts  rightly,  whether  in  secret  or  in 
the  sight  of  men.  That  boy  was  well  trained  who,  when 
asked  why  he  did  not  pocket  some  pears,  for  nobody  was 
there  to  see,  replied,  "  Yes,  there  was :  I  was  there  to  see 


CHAP.  XIII.     IMPORTANCE  OF  GOOD  HABITS.  403 

myself;  and  I  don't  intend  ever  to  see  myself  do  a  dis- 
honest thing."  This  is  a  simple  but  not  inappropriate 
illustration  of  principle,  or  conscience,  dominating  in  the 
character,  and  exercising  a  noble  protectorate  over  it ;  not 
merely  a  passive  influence,  but  an  active  power  regulat- 
ing the  life.  Such  a  principle  goes  on  moulding  the 
character  hourly  and  daily,  growing  with  a  force  that 
operates  every  moment.  Without  this  dominating  in- 
fluence, character  has  no  protection,  but  is  constantly 
liable  to  fall  away  before  temptation;  and  every  such 
temptation  succumbed  to,  every  act  of  meanness  or  dis- 
honesty, however  slight,  causes  self-degradation.  It  mat- 
ters not  whether  the  act  be  successful  or  not,  discovered 
or  concealed  ;  the  man  is  no  longer  the  same,  but  another 
person  ;  and  he  is  pursued  by  a  secret  uneasiness,  by 
self-reproach,  or  the  workings  of  what  we  call  conscience, 
which  is  the  inevitable  doom  of  the  guilty. 

And  here  it  may  be  observed  how  greatly  the  char- 
acter may  be  strengthened  and  supported  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  good  habits.  Man,  it  has  been  said,  is  a  bundle 
of  habits  :  and  habit  is  second  nature.  Metastasio  enter- 
tained so  strong  an  opinion  as  to  the  power  of  repetition 
in  act  and  thought,  that  he  said,  "  All  is  habit  in  man- 
kind, even  virtue  itself."  Butler,  in  his  "  Analogy," 
impresses  the  importance  of  careful  self-discipline,  and 
firm  resistance  to  temptation,  as  tending  to  make  virtue 
habitual,  so  that  at  length  it  may  become  more  easy  to 
be  good  than  to  give  way  to  sin.  "  As  habits  belonging 
to  the  body,"  he  says,  "  are  produced  by  external  acts,  so 
habits  of  the  mind  are  produced  by  the  execution  of 
inward  practical  purposes,  *.  e.,  carrying  them  into  act, 
or  acting  upon  them,  —  the  principles  of  obedience,  ve- 
racity, justice,  and  charity."  And  again,  Lord  Brougham 


404  HABITS  CONSTITUTE  CHAKACTER.    CHAP.  XIII. 

says,  when  enforcing  the  immense  importance  of  training 
and  example  in  youth,  "  I  trust  everything  under  God 
to  habit,  on  which,  in  all  ages,  the  lawgiver,  as  well  as 
the  schoolmaster,  has  mainly  placed  his  reliance ;  habit, 
which  makes  everything  easy,  and  casts  the  difficulties 
upon  the  deviation  from  a  wonted  course."  Thus  make 
sobriety  a  habit,  and  intemperance  will  be  hateful ;  make 
prudence  a  habit,  and  reckless  profligacy  will  become  re- 
volting to  every  principle  of  conduct  which  regulates  the 
life  of  the  individual.  Hence  the  necessity  for  the  great- 
est care  and  watchfulness  against  the  inroad  of  any  evil 
habit ;  for  the  character  is  always  weakest  at  that  point 
at  which  it  has  once  given  way ;  and  it  is  long  before  a 
principle  restored  can  become  so  firm  as  one  that  has 
never  been  moved.  It  is  a  fine  remark  of  a  Russian 
writer,  that  "  Habits  are  a  necklace  of  pearls  :  untie  the 
knot,  and  the  whole  unthreads." 

Wherever  formed,  habit  acts  involuntarily,  and  without 
effort ;  and,  it  is  only  when  you  oppose  it,  that  you  find 
how  powerful  it  has  become.  What  is  done  once  and 
again,  soon  gives  facility  and  proneness.  The  habit  at 
first  may  seem  to  have  no  more  strength  than  a  spider's 
web ;  but  once  formed,  it  binds  as  with  a  chain  of  iron. 
The  small  events  of  life,  taken  singly,  may  seem  exceed- 
ingly unimportant,  like  snow  that  falls  silently,  flake  by 
flake ;  yet  accumulated,  these  snow-flakes  form  the  ava- 
lanche. 

Self-respect,  self-help,  application,  industry,  integrity,  — 
all  are  of  the  nature  of  habits,  not  beliefs.  Principles, 
in  fact,  are  but  the  names  which  we  assign  to  habits  ;  for 
the  principles  are  words,  but  the  habits  are  the  things 
themselves  :  benefactors  or  tyrants,  according  as  they  are 
good  or  evil.  It  thus  happens  that  as  we  grow  older,  a 
portion  of  our  free  activity  and  individuality  becomes 


CHAP.  XIII.  GROWTH  OF  HABIT.  405 

suspended  in  habit ;  our  actions  become  of  the  nature  of 
fate ;  and  we  are  bound  by  the  chains  which  we  have 
woven  around  ourselves. 

It  is  indeed  scarcely  possible  to  over-estimate  the  im- 
portance of  training  the  young  to  virtuous  habits.  In 
them  they  are  the  easiest  formed,  and  when  formed  they 
last  for  life  ;  like  letters  cut  on  the  bark  of  a  tree,  they 
grow  and  widen  with  age.  "  Train  up  a  child  in  the 
way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart 
from  it."  The  beginning  holds  within  it  the  end ;  the 
first  start  on  the  road  of  life  determines  the  direction 
and  the  destination  of  the  journey ;  ce  riest  que  le  pre- 
mier pas  qui  coute.  "  Remember,"  said  Lord  Collingwood 
to  a  young  man  whom  he  loved,  "  before  you  are  five  • 
and-twenty  you  must  establish  a  character  that  will  serve 
you  all  your  life."  As  habit  strengthens  with  age,  and 
character  becomes  formed,  any  turning  into  a  new  path 
becomes  more  and  more  difficult.  Hence,  it  is  often 
harder  to  unlearn  than  to  learn ;  and  for  this  reason  the 
Grecian  flute-player  was  justified  who  charged  double 
fees  to  those  pupils  who  had  been  taught  by  an  inferior 
master.  To  uproot  an  old  habit  is  sometimes  a  more 
painful  thing,  and  vastly  more  difficult,  than  to  wrench 
out  a  tooth.  Try  and  reform  a  habitually  indolent,  or 
improvident,  or  drunken  person,  and  in  a  large  majority 
of  cases  you  will  fail.  For  the  habit  in  each  case  has 
wound  itself  in  and  through  the  life  until  it  has  become 
an  integral  part  of  it,  and  cannot  be  uprooted.  Hence, 
as  Mr.  Lynch  observes,  "  the  wisest  habit  of  all  is  the 
habit  of  care  in  the  formation  of  good  habits." 

Even  happiness  itself  may  become  habitual.  There  is 
a  habit  of  looking  at  the  bright  side  of  things,  and  also 
»f  looking  at  the  dark  side.  Dr.  Johnson  has  said  that 


406  MANNERS  AND  MORALS.  CHAP.  XII L 

the  habit  of  looking  at  the  best  side  of  a  thing  is  worth 
more  to  a  man  than  a  thousand  pounds  a  year.  And  we 
possess  the  power,  to  a  great  extent,  of  so  exercising  the 
will  as  to  direct  the  thoughts  upon  objects  calculated  to 
yield  happiness  and  improvement  rather  than  their  oppo- 
sites.  In  this  way  the  habit  of  happy  thought  may  be 
made  to  spring  up  like  any  other  habit.  And  to  bring 
up  men  or  women  with  a  genial  nature  of  this  sort,  a 
good  temper,  and  a  happy  frame  of  mind,  is  perhaps  of 
even  more  importance,  in  many  cases,  than  to  perfect 
them  in  much  knowledge  and  many  accomplishments. 

As  daylight  can  be  seen  through  very  small  holes,  so 
little  things  will  illustrate  a  person's  character.  Indeed 
character  consists  in  little  acts,  well  and  honorably  per- 
formed ;  daily  life  being  the  quarry  from  which  we  build 
it  up,  and  rough-hew  the  habits  which  form  it.  One  of 
the  most  marked  tests  of  character,  is  the  manner  in 
which  we  conduct  ourselves  towards  others.  A  graceful 
behavior  towards  superiors,  inferiors,  and  equals,  is  a 
constant  source  of  pleasure.  It  pleases  others  because  it 
indicates  respect  for  their  personality;  but  it  gives  ten- 
fold more  pleasure  to  ourselves.  Every  man  may  to  a 
large  extent  be  a  self-educator  in  good  behavior,  as  in 
everything  else ;  he  can  be  civil  and  kind,  if  he  will, 
though  he  have  not  a  penny  in  his  purse.  Gentleness  in 
society  is  like  the  silent  influence  of  light,  which  gives 
color  to  all  nature  ;  it  is  far  more  powerful  than  loudness 
or  force,  and  far  more  fruitful.  It  pushes  its  way  quietly 
and  persistently,  like  the  tiniest  daffodil  in  spring,  which 
raises  the  clod  and  thrusts  it  aside  by  the  simple  persist- 
ency of  growing. 

Morals  and  manners,  which  give  color  to  life,  are  of 
greater  importance  than  laws,  which  are  but  one  of  their 


CHAP.  XIII.  MANNERS.  407 

manifestations.  The  law  touches  us  here  and  there,  but 
manners  are  about  us  everywhere,  pervading  society  like 
the  air  we  breathe.  Good  manners,  as  we  call  them,  are 
neither  more  nor  less  than  good  behavior ;  consisting  of 
courtesy  and  kindness;  for  benevolence  is  the  prepon- 
derating element  in  all  kinds  of  mutually  beneficial  and 
pleasant  intercourse  amongst  human  beings.  "  Civility," 
said  Lady  Montague,  "costs  nothing  and  buys  every- 
thing." The  cheapest  of  all  things  is  kindness,  its  exer- 
cise requiring  the  least  possible  trouble  and  self-sacrifice. 
"  Win  hearts,"  said  Burleigh  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  "  and 
you  have  all  men's  hearts  and  purses."  If  we  would 
only  let  nature  act  kindly,  free  from  affectation  and  ar- 
tifice, the  results  on  social  good-humor  and  happiness 
would  be  incalculable.  Those  little  courtesies  which 
form  the  small  change  of  life,  may  separately  appear  of 
little  intrinsic  value,  but  they  acquire  their  importance 
from  repetition  and  accumulation.  They  are  like  the 
spare  minutes,  or  the  groat  a  day,  which  proverbially 
produce  such  momentous  results  in  the  course  of  a 
twelvemonth,  or  in  a  lifetime. 

Manners  are  the  ornament  of  action ;  and  there  is  a 
way  of  speaking  a  kind  word,  or  of  doing  a  kind  thing, 
which  greatly  enhances  their  value.  What  seems  to  be 
done  with  a  grudge,  or  as  an  act  of  condescension,  is 
scarcely  accepted  as  a  favor.  Yet  there  are  men  who 
pride  themselves  upon  their  gruffness ;  and  though  they 
may  possess  virtue  and  capacity,  their  manner  is  often 
found  to  render  them  almost  insupportable.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  like  a  man  who^  though  he  may  not  pull  your 
nose,  habitually  wounds  your  self-respect,  and  takes  a 
pride  in  saying  disagreeable  things  to  you.  There  are 
others  who  are  dreadfully  condescending,  and  cannot 


408  CULTIVATION   OF  MANNER.          CHAP.  XIII. 

avoid  seizing  upon  every  small  opportunity  of  making 
their  greatness  felt.  When  Abernethy  was  canvassing 
for  the  office  of  surgeon  to  St.  Bartholomew  Hospital,  he 
called  upon  such  a  person,  —  a  rich  grocer,  one  of  the 
governors.  The  great  man  behind  the  counter  seeing 
the  great  surgeon  enter,  immediately  assumed  the  grand 
air  towards  the  supposed  suppliant  for  his  vote.  "  I  pre- 
sume, sir,  you  want  my  vote  and  interest  at  this  mo- 
mentous epoch  of  your  life."  Abernethy,  who  hated 
humbugs,  and  felt  nettled  at  the  tone,  replied:  "No,  I 
don't :  I  want  a  pennyworth  of  figs ;  come,  look  sharp 
and  wrap  them  up:  I  want  to  be  off!" 

The  cultivation  of  manner,  —  though  in  excess  it  is 
foppish  and  foolish,  —  is  highly  necessary  in  a  person 
who  has  occasion  to  negotiate  with  others  in  matters  of 
business.  Affability  and  good-breeding  may  even  be 
regarded  as  essential  to  the  success  of  a  man  in  any  emi- 
nent station  and  enlarged  sphere  of  life ;  for  the  want  of 
it  has  not  unfrequently  been  found  in  a  great  measure  to 
neutralize  the  results  of  much  industry,  integrity,  and 
honesty  of  character.  There  are,  no  doubt,  a  few  strong 
tolerant  minds  which  can  bear  with  defects  and  angu- 
larities of  manner,  and  look  only  to  the  more  genuine 
qualities ;  but  the  world  at  large  is  not  so  forbearant,  and 
cannot  help  forming  its  judgments  and  likings  mainly 
according  to  outward  conduct. 

Another  mode  of  displaying  true  politeness  is,  consid- 
eration for  the  opinions  of  others.  It  has  been  said  of 
dogmatism,  that  it  is  only  puppyism  come  to  its  full 
growth;  and  certainly  the  worst  form  this  quality  can 
assume,  is  that  of  opinionativeness  and  arrogance.  Let 
men  agree  to  differ,  and,  when  they  do  differ,  bear  and 
forbear.  Principles  and  opinions  may  be  maintained 


CHAP.  XIII.        MEN  OF  THE   GREAT  HEART.  409 

with  perfect  suavity,  without  coming  to  blows  or  uttering 
hard  words ;  and  there  are  circumstances  in  which  words 
are  blows,  and  inflict  wounds  far  less  easy  to  heal.  As 
bearing  upon  this  point,  we  quote  an  instructive  little 
parable  spoken  some  time  since  by  an  itinerant  preacher 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  on  the  borders  of  Wales: 
"  A.s  I  was  going  to  the  hills,"  he  said,  "  early  one  misty 
morning,  I  saw  something  moving  on  a  mountain  side,  so 
strange-looking  that  I  took  it  for  a  monster.  When  I 
came  nearer  to  it,  I  found  it  was  a  man.  When  I  came 
up  to  him,  I  found  he  was  my  brother." 

The  inbred  politeness  which  springs  from  right- 
heartedness  and  kindly  feelings,  is  of  no  exclusive  rank 
or  station.  The  mechanic  who  works  at  the  bench  may 
possess  it,  as  well  as  the  clergyman  or  the  peer.  It  is 
by  no  means  a  necessary  condition  of  labor,  that  it  should 
in  any  respect  be  either  rough  or  coarse.  The  politeness 
and  refinement  which  distinguish  all  classes  of  the  people 
in  many  continental  countries  amply  prove  that  those 
qualities  might  become  ours  too  —  as  doubtless  they 
will  become  with  increased  culture  and  more  general 
social  intercourse  —  without  sacrificing  any  of  our  more 
genuine  qualities  as  men.  From  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  the  richest  to  the  poorest,  to  no  rank  or  condition 
in  life  has  nature  denied  her  highest  boon,  —  the  great 
heart.  There  never  yet  existed  a  gentleman  but  was 
lord  of  a  great  heart.  And  this  may  exhibit  itself  under 
the  hodden  gray  of  the  peasant  as  well  as  under  the  laced 
coat  of  the  noble.  Robert  Burns  was  once  taken  to  task 
by  a  young  Edinburgh  blood,  with  whom  he  was  walk- 
ing, for  recognizing  an  honest  farmer  in  the  open  street. 
"  Why,  you  fantastic  gomeral,"  exclaimed  Burns,  "  it  was 
not  the  great  coat,  the  scone  bonnet,  and  the  saunders- 
18 


410  WILLIAM  AND   CHARLES  GRANT.    CHAP.  XIIL 

boot  Lose  that  I  spoke  to,  but  the  man  that  was  in  them ; 
and  the  man,  sir,  for  true  worth,  would  weigh  down  you 
and  me,  and  ten  more  such,  any  day."  There  may  be  a 
homeliness  in  externals,  which  may  seem  vulgar  to  those 
who  cannot  discern  the  heart  beneath ;  but,  to  the  right- 
minded,  character  will  always  have  its  clear  insignia. 

William  and  Charles  Grant  were  the  sons  of  a  farmer 
in  Inverness-shire,  whom  a  sudden  flood  stripped  of  every- 
thing, even  to  the  very  soil  which  he  tilled.  The  farmer 
and  his  sons,  with  the  world  before  them  where  to  choose, 
made  their  way  southward  in  search  of  employment  until 
they  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bury  in  Lancashire. 
From  the  crown  of  the  hill  near  Walmesley  they  sur- 
veyed the  wide  extent  of  country  which  lay  before  them, 
the  river  Irwell  making  its  circuitous  course  through  the 
valley.  They  were  utter  strangers  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  knew  not  which  way  to  turn.  To  decide  their  course 
they  put  up  a  stick,  and  agreed  to  pursue  the  direction  in 
which  it  fell.  Thus  their  decision  was  made,  and  they 
journeyed  on  accordingly  until  they  reached  the  village  of 
Ramsbotham,  not  far  distant.  They  found  employment  in 
a  print-work,  in  which  William  served  his  apprentice- 
ship ;  and  they  commended  themselves  to  their  employers 
by  their  diligence,  sobriety,  and  strict  integrity.  They 
plodded  on,  rising  from  one  station  to  another,  until  at 
length  the  two  sons  themselves  became  employers,  and 
after  many  long  years  of  industry,  enterprise,  and  benev- 
olence, they  became  rich,  honored,  and  respected  by  all 
who  knew  them.  Their  cotton-mills  and  print-works 
gave  employment  to  a  large  population.  Their  well-di- 
rected diligence  made  the  valley  teem  with  activity,  joy, 
health,  and  opulence.  Out  of  their  abundant  wealth  they 
gave  liberally  to  all  worthy  objects,  erecting  churches, 


CHAP.  XIII.    WILLIAM  AND  CHARLES   GRANT.  411 

founding  schools,  and  in  all  ways  promoting  the  well- 
being  of  the  class  of  working-men  from  which  they  had 
sprung.  They  afterwards  erected,  on  the  top  of  the  hill 
above  Walmesley,  a  lofty  tower  in  commemoration  of  the 
early  event  in  their  history  which  had  determined  the 
place  of  their  settlement.  The  brothers  Grant  became 
widely  celebrated  for  their  benevolence  and  their  various 
goodness,  and  it  is  said  that  Mr.  Dickens  had  them  in  his 
mind's  eye  when  delineating  the  character  of  the  brothers 
Cheeryble.  One  amongst  many  anecdotes  of  a  similar 
kind  may  be  cited  to  show  that  the  character  was  by  no 
means  exaggerated.  A  Manchester  warehouseman  pub- 
lished an  exceedingly  scurrilous  pamphlet  against  the  firm 
of  Grant  Brothers,  holding  up  the  elder  partner  to  ridi- 
cule as  "  Billy  Button."  William  was  informed  by  some 
one  of  the  nature  of  the  pamphlet,  and  his  observation 
was  that  the  man  would  live  to  repent  of  it.  "  Oh ! " 
said  the  libeller,  when  informed  of  the  remark,  "  he  thinks 
that  some  time  or  other  I  shall  be  in  his  debt ;  but  I  will 
take  good  care  of  that."  It  happens,  however,  that  men 
in  business  do  not  always  foresee  who  shall  be  their  cred- 
itor, and  it  so  turned  out  that  the  Grants'  libeller  became 
a  bankrupt,  and  could  not  obtain  his  certificate  and  begin 
business  again  without  obtaining  their  signature.  It 
seemed  to  him  a  hopeless  case  to  call  upon  that  firm  for 
any  favor,  but  the  pressing  claims  of  his  family  forced 
him  to  make  the  application.  He  appeared  before  the 
man  whom  he  had  ridiculed  as  "  Billy  Button "  accord- 
ingly. He  told  his  tale  and  produced  his  certificate. 
"  You  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  us  once  ? "  said  Mr. 
Grant.  The  supplicant  expected  to  see  his  document 
thrown  into  the  fire ;  instead  of  which  Grant  signed  the 
name  of  the  firm,  and  thus  completed  the  necessary  cer- 


412  WILLIAM  AND  CHARLES  GRANT.    CHAP.  XIIL 

tificate.  "  We  make  it  a  rule,"  said  he,  handing  it  back, 
"never  to  refuse  signing  the  certificate  of  an  honest 
tradesman,  and  we  have  never  heard  that  you  were  any- 
thing else."  The  tears  started  into  the  man's  eyes. 
"Ah,"  continued  Mr.  Grant,  "you  see  my  saying  was 
true,  that  you  would  live  to  repent  writing  that  pamphlet. 
I  did  not  mean  it  as  a  threat  —  I  only  meant  that  some 
day  you  would  know  us  better,  and  repent  having  tried  to 
injure  us."  "  I  do,  I  do,  indeed,  repent  it."  "  Well,  well, 
you  know  us  now.  But  how  do  you  get  on  —  what  are 
you  going  to  do?"  The  poor  man  stated  that  he  had 
friends  who  would  assist  him  when  his  certificate  was  ob- 
tained. "  But  how  are  you  off  in  the  mean  tune  ?  "  The 
answer  was,  that,  having  given  up  every  farthing  to  his 
creditors,  he  had  been  compelled  to  stint  his  family  in 
even  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  that  he  might  be 
enabled  to  pay  for  his  certificate.  "  My  good  fellow,  this 
will  never  do ;  your  wife  and  family  must  not  suffer  in 
this  way ;  be  kind  enough  to  take  this  ten-pound  note  to 
your  wife  from  me  :  there,  there,  now  —  don't  cry,  it  will 
be  all  well  with  you  yet ;  keep  up  your  spirits,  set  to 
work  like  a  man,  and  you  will  raise  your  head  among  the 
best  of  us  yet."  The  overpowered  man  endeavored  with 
choking  utterance  to  express  his  gratitude,  but  in  vain ; 
and  putting  his  hand  to  his  face,  he  went  out  of  the  room 
sobbing  like  a  child. 

The  True  Gentleman  is  one  whose  nature  has  been 
fashioned  after  the  highest  models.  It  is  a  grand  old 
name,  that  of  Gentleman,  and  has  been  recognized  as  a 
rank  and  power  in  all  stages  of  society.  "  The  Gentle- 
man is  always  the  Gentleman,"  said  the  old  French  gen- 
eral to  his  regiment  of  Scottish  gentry  at  Rousillon,  "  and 
invariably  proves  himself  such  in  need  and  in  danger." 


CHAP.  XIII.  THE  GENTLEMAN.  413 

To  possess  this  character  is  a  dignity  of  itself,  command- 
ing the  instinctive  homage  of  every  generous  mind,  and 
those  who  will  not  bow  to  titular  rank,  will  yet  do  hom- 
age to  the  Gentleman.  His  qualities  depend  not  upon 
fashion  or  manners,  but  upon  moral  worth,  —  not  on 
personal  possessions,  but  on  personal  qualities.  The 
Psalmist  briefly  describes  him  as  one  "that  walketh 
uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness,  and  speaketh  the 
truth  in  his  heart." 

The  Gentleman  is  eminently  distinguished  for  his  self- 
respect.  He  values  his  character,  —  not  so  much  of  it 
only  as  can  be  seen  of  others,  but  as  he  sees  it  himself; 
having  regard  for  the  approval  of  his  inward  monitor. 
And,  as  he  respects  himself,  so,  by  the  same  law,  does  he 
respect  others.  Humanity  is  sacred  in  his  eyes :  and 
thence  proceed  politeness  and  forbearance,  kindness  and 
charity.  It  is  related  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  that, 
while  travelling  in  Canada,  in  company  with  the  Indians, 
he  was  shocked  by  the  sight  of  a  poor  squaw  trudging 
along  laden  with  her  husband's  trappings,  while  the  chief 
himself  walked  on  unencumbered.  Lord  Edward  at  once 
relieved  the  squaw  of  her  pack  by  placing  it  upon  his 
own  shoulders.  Here  was  a  beautiful  instance  of  what 
the  French  call  politesse  de  cceur,  —  the  genuine  polite- 
ness of  the  heart. 

The  true  gentleman  has  a  keen  sense  of  honor, — 
scrupulously  avoiding  mean  actions.  His  standard  of 
probity  in  word  and  action  is  high.  He  does  not  shuflle 
nor  prevaricate,  dodge  nor  skulk ;  but  is  honest,  upright, 
and  straightforward.  His  law  is  rectitude,  —  action  in 
right  lines.  When  he  says  yes,  it  is  a  law ;  and  he  dares 
to  say  the  valiant  no  at  the  fitting  season.  The  gentle- 
man will  not  be  bribed;  only  the  low-minded  and  un 


414  WELLINGTON.  —  WELLESLEY.         CHAP.  XIIJ. 

principled  will  sell  themselves  to  those  who  are  interested 
in  buying  them.  When  the  upright  Jonas  Hanway 
officiated  as  commissioner  in  the  victualling  department, 
he  declined  to  receive  a  present  of  any  kind  from  a  con- 
tractor ;  refusing  thus  to  be  biassed  in  the  performance 
of  his  public  duty.  A  noble  trait  of  the  same  kind  is  to 
be  noted  in  the  life  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Shortly 
after  the  battle  of  Assaye,  one  morning  the  prime  min- 
ister of  the  Court  of  Hyderabad  waited  upon  him  for  the 
purpose  of  privately  ascertaining  what  territory  and  what 
advantages  had  been  reserved  for  his  master  in  the  treaty 
of  peace  between  the  Mahratta  princes  and  the  Nizam. 
To  obtain  this  information  the  minister  offered  the  gen- 
eral a  very  large  sum,  —  considerably  above  100,000£ 
Looking  at  him  quietly  for  a  few  seconds,  Sir  Arthur 
said,  "  It  appears,  then,  that  you  are  capable  of  keeping  a 
secret  ?  "  "  Yes,  certainly,"  replied  the  minister.  "  Then 
so  am  I"  said  the  English  general,  smiling,  and  bowed 
the  minister  out.  It  was  to  Wellington's  great  honor, 
that  though  uniformly  successful  in  India,  and  with  the 
power  of  earning  in  such  modes  as  this  enormous  wealth, 
he  did  not  add  a  farthing  to  his  fortune,  and  returned  to 
England  a  comparatively  poor  man.  A  similar  sensitive- 
ness and  high-mindedness  characterized  his  noble  rela- 
tive, the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  who,  on  one  occasion, 
positively  refused  a  present  of  100,000/.  proposed  to  be 
given  him  by  the  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company 
on  the  conquest  of  Mysore.  "  It  is  not  necessary,"  said 
he,  "  for  me  to  allude  to  the  independence  of  my  charac- 
ter, and  the  proper  dignity  attaching  to  my  office  ;  other 
reasons  besides  these  important  considerations  lead  me 
to  decline  this  testimony,  which  is  not  suitable  to  me.  2 
think  of  nothing  but  our  army.  I  should  be  much  dis- 


CHAP.  XIII.  A  NOBLE  PEASANT.  415 

tressed  to  curtail*  the  share  of  those  brave  soldiers." 
And  the  Marquis's  resolution  to  refuse  the  present  re- 
mained unalterable. 

Riches  and  rank  have  no  necessary  connection  with 
genuine  gentlemanly  qualities.  The  poor  man  may  be 
a  true  gentleman, — in  spirit  and  in  daily  life.  He  may 
be  honest,  truthful,  upright,  polite,  temperate,  courage- 
ous, self-respecting,  and  self-helping,  —  that  is,  be  a  true 
gentleman.  The  poor  man  with  a  rich  spirit  is  in  all 
ways  superior  to  the  rich  man  with  a  poor  spirit.  To 
borrow  St.  Paul's  words,  the  former  is  as  "  having  noth- 
ing, yet  possessing  all  things,"  while  the  other,  though 
possessing  all  things,  has  nothing.  The  first  hopes  every- 
thing, and  fears  nothing ;  the  last  hopes  nothing,  and 
fears  everything.  Only  the  poor  in  spirit  are  really 
poor.  He  who  has  lost  all,  but  retains  his  courage, 
cheerfulness,  hope,  virtue,  and  self-respect,  is  still  rich. 
For  such  a  man,  the  world  is,  as  it  were,  held  in  trust ; 
his  spirit  dominating  over  its  grosser  cares,  he  can  still 
walk  erect,  a  true  gentleman. 

Occasionally,  the  brave  and  gentle  character  may  be 
found  under  the  humblest  garb.  Here  is  an  old  illus- 
tration, but  a  fine  one.  Once  on  a  time,  when  the  Adige 
suddenly  overflowed  its  banks,  the  bridge  of  Verona  was 
carried  away,  with  the  exception  of  the  centre  arch,  on 
which  stood  a  house,  whose  inhabitants  supplicated  help 
from  the  windows,  while  the  foundations  were  visibly 
giving  way.  "  I  will  give  a  hundred  French  louis," 
said  the  Count  Spolverini,  who  stood  by,  "  to  any  person 
who  will  venture  to  deliver  these  unfortunate  people." 
A  young  peasant  came  forth  from  the  crowd,  seized  a 
boat,  and  pushed  into  the  stream.  He  gained  the  pier, 
-eceived  the  whole  family  into  the  boat,  and  made  foi 


416  FRANCIS,  EMPEROR  OF  AUSTRIA.    CHAP.  XIII 

the  shore,  where  he  landed  them  in  safety.  "Here  ia 
your  money,  my  brave  young  fellow,"  said  the  count. 
"  No,"  was  the  answer  of  the  young  man,  "  I  do  not  sell 
my  life ;  give  the  money  to  this  poor  family,  who  have 
need  of  it."  Here  spoke  the  true  spirit  of  the  Gentle- 
man, though  he  was  but  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant ! 

Mr.  Turnbull,  in  his  excellent  work  on  "  Austria,"  re- 
lates an  anecdote  of  the  late  Emperor  Francis,  in  illus- 
tration of  the  manner  in  which  the  government  of  that 
country  has  been  indebted,  for  its  hold  upon  the  people, 
to  the  personal  qualities  of  its  princes.  "At  the  time 
when  the  cholera  was  raging  at  Vienna,  the  emperor, 
with  an  aide-de-camp,  was  strolling  about  in  the  streets 
of  the  city  and  suburbs,  when  a  corpse  was  dragged  past 
on  a  litter  unaccompanied  by  a  single  mourner.  The 
unusual  circumstance  attracted  his  attention,  and  he 
learned,  on  inquiry,  that  the  deceased  was  a  poor  per- 
son who  had  died  of  cholera,  and  that  the  relatives  had 
not  ventured  on  what  was  then  considered  the  very 
dangerous  office  of  attending  the  body  to  the  grave. 
1  Then,'  said  Francis,  '  we  will  supply  their  place,  for 
none  of  my  poor  people  should  go  to  the  grave  without 
that  last  mark  of  respect ; '  and  he  followed  the  body  to 
the  distant  place  of  interment,  and,  bareheaded,  stood  to 
see  every  rite  and  observance  respectfully  performed." 

Fine  though  this  illustration  may  be  of  the  qualities  of 
the  gentleman,  we  can  match  it  by  another  equally  good, 
of  two  English  navvies  in  Paris,  as  related  in  a  morning 
paper  only  a  few  months  ago.  "  One  day  a  hearse  was 
observed  ascending  the  steep  Rue  de  Clichy  on  its  way 
to  Montmartre,  bearing  a  coffin  of  poplar  wood  with  its 
cold  corpse.  Not  a  soul  followed,  —  not  even  the  living 
dog  of  the  dead  man,  if  he  had  one.  The  day  was  rainy 


CHAP.XHI.  TWO  ENGLISH  NAVVIES.  417 

and  dismal ;  passers-by  lifted  the  hat  as  is  usual  when 
a  funeral  passes,  and  that  was  all.  At  length  it  passed 
two  English  navvies,  who  found  themselves  in  Paris  on 
their  way  from  Spain.  A  right  feeling  spoke  from  be- 
neath their  serge  jackets.  <  Poor  wretch ! '  said  the  one 
to  the  other,  '  no  one  follows  him ;  let  us  two  follow ! ' 
And  the  two  took  off  their  hats,  and  walked  bareheaded 
after  the  corpse  of  a  stranger  to  the  cemetery  of  Mont- 
martre." 

Above  all  the  Gentleman  is  truthful.  He  feels  that 
truth  is  the  "  summit  of  being,"  and  the  soul  of  rectitude 
in  human  affairs.  Lord  Chesterfield,  with  all  his  French 
leanings,  when  he  came  to  define  a  gentleman,  declared 
that  Truth  made  his  success ;  and  nothing  that  he  ever 
said  commanded  the  more  hearty  suffrage  of  his  nation. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  had  an  inflexible  horror 
of  falsehood,  writing  to  Kellerman,  when  that  general 
was  opposed  to  him  in  the  Peninsula,  told  him  that  if 
there  was  one  thing  on  which  an  English  officer  prided 
himself  more  than  another,  excepting  his  courage,  it  was 
his  truthfulness.  "  When  English  officers,"  said  he, 
"  have  given  their  parole  of  honor  not  to  escape,  be  sure 
they  will  not  break  it.  Believe  me,  —  trust  to  their 
word;  the  word  of  an  English  officer  is  a  surer  guar- 
antee than  the  vigilance  of  sentinels." 

True  courage  and  gentleness  go  hand  in  hand.  The 
brave  man  is  generous  and  forbearant,  never  unforgiv- 
ing and  cruel.  It  was  finely  said  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
by  his  friend  Parry,  that  "  he  was  a  man  who  never 
.urned  his  back  upon  a  danger,  yet  of  that  tenderness 
that  he  would  not  brush  away  a  mosquito."  A  fine  trait 
of  character  —  truly  gentle,  and  worthy  of  the  spirit 
•f  Bayard  —  was  displayed  by  a  French  officer  in  the 


418  TRUE  COURAGE  AND  GENTLENESS.    CHAP.  XIII. 

cavalry  combat  of  El  Bodon  in  Spain.  He  had  raised 
his  sword  to  strike  Sir  Felton  Harvey,  but  perceiving 
his  antagonist  had  only  one  arm,  he  instantly  stopped, 
brought  down  his  sword  before  Sir  Felton  in  the  usual 
salute,  and  rode  past. 

Notwithstanding  the  wail  which  we  occasionally  hear 
for  the  chivalry  that  is  gone,  our  own  age  has  witnessed 
deeds  of  bravery  and  gentleness,  —  of  heroic  self-denial 
and  manly  tenderness,  —  which  are  unsurpassed  hi  his- 
tory. The  events  of  the  last  few  years  have  shown  that 
our  countrymen  are  as  yet  an  undegenerate  race.  On 
the  bleak  plateau  of  Sebastopol,  in  the  dripping  perilous 
trenches  of  that  twelvemonths'  leaguer,  men  of  all  classes 
proved  themselves  worthy  of  the  noble  inheritance  of 
character  which  their  forefathers  have  bequeathed  to 
them.  But  it  was  in  the  hour  of  the  greatest  trial  in 
India  that  the  qualities  of  our  countrymen  shone  forth 
the  brightest.  The  march  of  Neill  on  Cawnpore,  of 
Havelock  on  Lucknow,  —  officers  and  men  alike  urged 
on  by  the  hope  of  rescuing  the  women  and  the  children, 
—  are  events  which  the  whole  history  of  chivalry  can- 
not equal.  Outram's  conduct  to  Havelock,  in  resigning 
to  him,  though  his  inferior  officer,  the  honor  of  leading 
the  attack  on  Lucknow,  was  a  trait  worthy  of  Sydney, 
and  alone  justifies  the  title  which  had  been  awarded  to 
him  of  "  the  Bayard  of  India."  The  death  of  Henry 
Lawrence,  —  that  brave  and  gentle  spirit,  —  his  last 
tf ords  before  dying,  "  Let  there  be  no  fuss  about  me  ;  let 
me  be  buried  with  the  men"  —  the  anxious  solicitude  of 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  to  rescue  the  beleaguered  of  Luck- 
now,  and  to  conduct  his  long  train  of  women  and  chil- 
dren by  night  from  thence  to  Cawnpore,  which  he 
reached  amidst  the  all  but  overpowering  assault  of  the 


CHAP.  XIII.        PKIVATE  SOLDIERS  AT  AGRA.  419 

enemy,  —  the  care  with  which  he  led  them  across  the 
perilous  bridge,  never  ceasing  his  charge  over  then} 
until  he  had  seen  the  precious  convoy  safe  on  the  road 
to  Allahabad,  and  then  burst  upon  the  Gwalior  contin- 
gent like  a  thunderclap  ;  —  such  things  make  us  feel 
proud  of  our  countrymen,  and  inspire  the  conviction 
that  the  best  and  purest  glow  of  chivalry  is  not  dead, 
but  vigorously  lives  among  us  yet. 

Even  the  common  soldiers  proved  themselves  gentle- 
men under  their  trials.  At  Agra,  where  so  many  poor 
fellows  had  been  scorched  and  wounded  in  their  encounter 
with  the  enemy,  they  were  brought  into  the  fort  and 
tenderly  nursed  by  the  ladies ;  and  the  rough,  gallant  fel- 
lows proved  gentle  as  any  children.  During  the  weeks 
that  the  ladies  watched  over  their  charge,  never  a  word 
was  said  by  any  soldier  that  could  shock  the  ear  of  the 
gentlest.  And  when  all  was  over,  —  when  the  mortally 
wounded  had  died,  and  the  sick  and  maimed  who  sur- 
vived were  able  to  demonstrate  their  gratitude,  —  they 
invited  their  nurses  and  the  chief  people  of  Agra  to  an 
entertainment  in  the  beautiful  gardens  of  the  Taj,  where, 
amidst  flowers  and  music,  the  rough  veterans,  all  scarred 
and  mutilated  as  they  were,  stood  up  to  thank  their  gentle 
countrywomen  who  had  clothed  and  fed  them,  and  minis- 
tered to  their  wants  during  their  time  of  sore  distress. 
In  the  hospitals  at  Scutari,  too,  many  wounded  and  sick 
blessed  the  kind  English  ladies  who  nursed  thtm ;  and 
nothing  can  be  finer  than  the  thought  of  the  poor  suf- 
ferers, unable  to  rest  through  pain,  blessing  the  shadow 
of  Florence  Nightingale  as  it  fell  upon  their  pillow  in 
the  night-watches. 

The  wreck  of  the  Birkenhead  off  the  coast  of  Africa 
on  the  27th  of  February,  1852,  affords  another  memo- 


120  WRECK  OF  THE  BIRKENHEAD.      CHAP.  XIII 

rable  illustration  of  the  chivalrous  spirit  of  common  men 
acting  in  this  nineteenth  century,  of  which  any  age  might 
be  proud.  The  vessel  was  steaming  along  the  African 
coast  with  472  men  and  166  women  and  children  on 
board.  The  men  belonged  to  several  regiments  then 
serving  at  the  Cape,  and  consisted  principally  of  recruits, 
who  had  been  only  a  short  time  in  the  service.  At  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  while  all  were  asleep  below,  the 
ship  struck  with  violence  upon  a  hidden  rock  which  pene- 
trated her  bottom ;  and  it  was  at  once  felt  that  she  must 
go  down.  The  roll  of  the  drums  called  the  soldiers  to 
arms  on  the  upper  deck,  and  the  men  mustered  as  if 
on  parade.  The  word  was  passed  to  save  the  women 
and  children ;  and  the  helpless  creatures  were  brought 
from  below,  mostly  undressed,  and  handed  silently  into 
the  boats.  When  they  had  all  left  the  ship's  side,  the 
commander  of  the  vessel  thoughtlessly  called  out,  "  All 
those  that  can  swim,  jump  overboard  and  make  for  the 
boats."  But  Captain  Wright,  of  the  91st  Highlanders, 
said,  "  No !  if  you  do  that,  the  boats  with  the  women  must 
be  swamped ; "  and  the  brave  men  stood  motionless. 
There  was  no  boat  remaining,  and  no  hope  of  safety  ; 
but  not  a  heart  quailed  ;  no  one  flinched  from  his  duty  hi 
that  trying  moment.  "  There  was  not  a  murmur  nor  a 
cry  amongst  them,"  said  Captain  Wright,  a  survivor, 
"  until  the  vessel  made  her  final  plunge."  Down  went 
the  ship,  and  down  went  the  heroic  band,  firing  a  feu  de 
joie  as  they  sank  beneath  the  waves.  Glory  and  honor 
to  the  gentle  and  the  brave  !  The  examples  of  such 
men  never  die,  but  like  their  memories,  are  immortal. 

There  are  many  tests  by  which  a  gentleman  may  be 
known  ;  but  there  is  one  that  never  fails,  —  How  does  he 
exercise  power  over  those  subordinate  to  him  ?  How  does 


CHAP.  XIII.    EXERCISE  OF  PERSONAL  POWER.  421 

he  conduct  himself  towards  women  and  children  ?  How 
does  the  officer  treat  his  men,  the  employer  his  servants, 
the  master  his  pupils,  and  man  in  every  station  those  who 
are  weaker  than  himself  ?  The  discretion,  forbearance, 
and  kindliness,  with  which  power  in  such  cases  is  used, 
may  indeed  be  regarded  as  the  crucial  test  of  gentlemanly 
character.  He  who  bullies  those  who  are  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  resist,  may  be  a  snob,  but  cannot  be  a  gentleman. 
He  who  tyrannizes  over  the  weak  and  helpless,  may  be 
a  coward,  but  no  true  man.  The  tyrant,  it  has  been  said, 
is  himself  but  a  slave  turned  inside  out.  Strength,  and 
the  consciousness  of  strength,  in  a  right-hearted  man,  im- 
parts a  nobleness  to  his  character ;  but  he  will  be  most 
careful  how  he  uses  it ;  for 

"  It  is  excellent 

To  have  a  giant's  strength;  but  it  is  tyrannous         ^ 
To  use  it  like  a  giant." 

Gentleness  is  indeed  the  best  test  of  gentlemanliness. 
A  consideration  for  the  feelings  of  others,  for  his  inferiors 
and  dependants  as  well  as  his  equals,  and  respect  for  their 
self-respect,  will  pervade  the  true  gentleman's  whole  con- 
duct. He  will  rather  himself  suffer  a  small  injury  than, 
by  an  uncharitable  construction  of  another's  behavior, 
incur  the  risk  of  committing  a  great  wrong.  He  will  be 
forbearant  of  the  weaknesses,  the  failings,  and  the  errors, 
of  those  whose  advantages  in  life  have  not  been  equal  to 
his  own.  He  will  be  merciful  even  to  his  beast.  He  will 
not  boast  of  his  wealth,  or  his  strength,  or  his  gifts.  He 
will  not  confer  favors  with  a  patronizing  air.  Sir  Walter 
Scott  once  said  of  Lord  Lothian,  "He  is  a  man  from 
whom  one  may  receive  a  favor,  and  that's  saying  a  great 
deal  in  these  days."  Lord  Chatham  has  said  that  the 
gentleman  is  characterized  by  his  preference  of  others  to 


422  SIR  RALPH  ABERCROMBY.  CHAP.  XIII 

himself  in  the  little  daily  occurrences  of  life.  In  illustra- 
tion of  this  ruling  spirit  of  considerateness  in  a  noble 
character,  we  may  cite  the  anecdote  of  the  gallant  Sir 
Ralph  Abercromby,  of  whom  it  is  related,  that  when 
mortally  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Aboukir,  he  was  car- 
ried in  a  litter  on  board  the  "  Foudroyant ; "  and,  to  ease 
his  pain,  a  soldier's  blanket  was  placed  under  his  hea^r 
from  which  he  experienced  considerable  relief.  He 
asked  what  it  was.  "  It's  only  a  soldier's  blanket,"  was 
the  reply.  "  Whose  blanket  is  it  ?  "  said  he,  half  lifting 
himself  up.  "  Only  one  of  the  men's."  "  I  wish  to  know 
the  name  of  the  man  whose  blanket  this  is."  "It  is 
Duncan  Roy's,  of  the  42d,  Sir  Ralph."  "Then  see  that 
Duncan  Roy  gets  his  blanket  this  very  night."  *  Even 
to  ease  his  dying  agony,  the  general  would  not  deprive 
the  private  soldier  of  his  blanket  for  one  night.  The  in- 
cident is  as  good  in  its  way  as  that  of  the  dying  Sydney 
handing  his  cup  of  water  to  the  private  soldier  on  the 
field  of  Zutphen. 

The  quaint  old  Fuller  sums  up  in  a  few  words  the 
character  of  the  true  gentleman  and  man  of  action  in 
describing  that  of  the  great  admiral,  Sir  Francis  Drake  : 
"  Chaste  in  his  life,  just  in  his  dealings,  true  of  his  word ; 
merciful  to  those  that  were  under  him,  and  hating  nothing 
so  much  as  idlenesse ;  hi  matters  especially  of  moment, 
he  was  never  wont  to  rely  on  other  men's  care,  how  trusty 
or  skilful  soever  they  might  seem  to  be,  but  always  con- 
iemning  danger,  and  refusing  no  toyl ;  he  was  wont  him- 
self to  be  one  (whoever  was  a  second)  at  every  turn, 
where  courage,  skill,  or  industry,  was  to  be  employed." 

*  Brown's  "Horae  Subsecivw." 


INDEX. 


ABERCROMBT. 

ABEECROMBT,  anecdote  of  Sir  Ralph, 
422. 

Abernethy,  John,  surgeon,  320,  408. 

Accidental,  discoveries  not,  97. 

Account,  every  man  should  keep,  288. 

Accuracy,  habits  of,  259,  319. 

Adams,  Mr.,  astronomer,  30. 

Addison,  Joseph,  30,  112. 

Adversity,  uses  of,  350. 

Agra,  English  soldiers  at,  419. 

Agriculture,  Sir  John  Sinclair's  im- 
provements, 389. 

Aim  high,  380,  400. 

Akenside,  poet,  26. 

Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  399. 

Alfieri,  poet,  365,  386. 

All  Souls,  Oxford,  motto  at,  111. 

Amusement  rage  for,  341. 

Angelo,  Michael,  97, 137. 

Apollonius  Pergaeus,  discoveries  of, 
100. 

Apparatus,  simple  scientific,  103. 

Application,  the  price  of  success,  31, 
67. 

Arithmetic,  uses  of,  in  life,  257,  288. 

Arkwright,  Sir  Richard,  23,  46. 

Armstrong,  Sir  W.,  engineer,  30. 

Arne,  Dr.,  musician,  175. 

Arnold,  Dr.,  his  teaching,  326;  on 
comic  literature,  341 ;  a  late  stu- 
dent, 365;  a  cheerful  worker,  388. 

Artists,  industry  of,  136. 

Astronomy,  discoveries  in,  98, 100, 122. 

Attention,  habits  of,  43,  320. 

Attorneys,  distinguished  sons  of,  30. 

Audubon,  ornithologist,  77. 

Austria,  anecdote  of  Emperor  of,  416. 

BABBAGE,  on   human  responsibility, 

376. 

Bach,  Sebastian,  musician,  176 
Bacon,  Lord,  20,  32,  112. 
Bacon,  sculptor,  25, 136. 
Baffin,  navigator,  26. 


BROTIIERTOIf. 

Banks,  sculptor,  141. 

Barbers,  illustrious,  23,  47, 195. 

Barclay,  David,  merchant,  277. 

Barrow,  Isaac,  divine,  317,  366. 

Barry,  painter,  136, 158. 

Battle  of  Life,  19.  352. 

Baxter,  divine,  111,  185. 

Beethoven,  musician,  175,  383. 

Beginning  well,  290. 

Behavior,  406. 

Bell,  Sir  C.,  physiologist,  30, 118. 

Belper,  peerage  of,  193. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  on  time,  111. 

Bernard,  Sir  Thomas,  301. 

Bewick,  Thos.,  wood-engraver,  26, 103 

Bickersteth,  H.  (Lord  Langdale),  199. 

Bidder,  G.  P.,  engineer,  69. 

Biography,  uses  of,  19,  384. 

Bird,  painter,  136,139. 

Birkenhead,  wreck  of  the,  419. 

Black,  chemist,  103. 

Blackburn,  and  the  Peels,  53. 

Blacksmith,  an  artistic,  166. 

Blackstone,  Sir  Wm.,  lawyer,  30. 

Blake,  painter,  139. 145. 

Bloomfield,  poet,  25. 

Blucher,  Marshal,  210. 

Boccaccio,  a  late  learner,  364. 

Bodily  exercise,  uses  of,  309. 

Bolingbroke,  saying  of,  329. 

Book  learning,  328;   uses  of  book* 

384. 

Borrowing,  evils  of,  287. 
Boulton,  Matthew,  manufiicturer,  46 

51. 

Boyle,  the  Hon.  Mr.,  33. 
Boys,  energy  in,  368. 
Brave,  example  of  the,  383. 
Bricklayers,  illustrious,  24. 
Bridge,  invention  of  suspension,  99 
Bright,  Mr.,  on  economy,  283. 
Brindley,  engineer,  24,  63,  330. 
Britton,  John,  author,  83. 
Brotherton,  Joseph,  M.  P.,  28,  306. 


424 


INDEX. 


Brougham,  Lord,  his  industry,  35; 
his  punctuality,  265;  his  working- 
power,  316;  on  habit,  403. 

Brown,  geologist,  132. 

Brown,  Sir  Samuel,  99. 

Brunei.  Sir  I.,  engineer,  99. 

Bulwer,  Sir  E.  L.,  his' industry,  36; 
his  method  of  working,  320. 

Bunyan,  John,  author,  26. 

Burke,  Edmund,  30,  351. 

Burleigh,  Cecil,  Lord,  his  despatch  ol 
husiness,  260 ;  on  kindness,  407. 

Burney,  Dr.,  musician,  110. 

Burns,  Robert,  poet,  his  class,  24 ;  on 
independence  and  use  of  money, 
279,  285;  his  physique,  317;  on 
character,  409. 

Burritt,  Elihu,  blacksmith  and  lin- 
guist, 110,  314. 

Bury,  the  Peels  of,  58. 

Business  qualities,  252. 

Business  genius  of  Wellington,  266. 

Butchers,  illustrious  sons  of,  26. 

Buxton,  Fowell,  on  resolution,  204, 
207;  his  career,  248;  on  force  of 
study,  318 ;  moulded  by  personal 
influence,  373,  381;  his  cheerful- 
ness, 388. 

Byron,  Lord,  36. 

Byronism,  310. 

CAITHNESS.  Sir  John  Sinclair's  im- 
provements in,  390. 

Calculation,  mental,  69. 

Callcott,  painter,  138. 

Campbell,  Lord,  30, 196. 

Campbell,  poet,  30. 

Campbell,  Sir  Colin  (Lord  Clyde),  210, 
418. 

Canning  on  character,  397. 

Carey,  missionary,  25,  75,  386. 

Carissimi,  on  violin-playing,  354. 

Carlyle,  T.,  anecdote  of  his  persever- 
ance, 78;  on  books,  329. 

Carpenters,  illustrious,  24. 

Cavendish,  Mr.,  philosopher,  33. 

Ceramic  manufacture,  65. 

Chambers,  Wm.,  publisher  and  au- 
thor, 357. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  divine,  275,  366. 

Chantrey,  sculptor,  26,  136,  153. 

Character  —  is  a  rich  legacy,  376  ;  edu- 
cation of,  382 ;  its  importance,  396  ; 
character  is  power,  399. 

Charles  IX.  of  Sweden,  204. 

Charteris,  Colonel,  401. 

Chatterton,  317,  367. 

Chaucer,  poet,  as  man  of  business, 
253. 

Cheerfulness,  74,  387,  405. 

Chesterfield,  Earl  of,  180. 

Chimney-sweepers,  231,  300. 


Chisholm,  Mrs.,  on  saying  and  doing, 
377. 

Chivalry,  modern,  418. 

Circulation,  discovery  of  the,  115. 

Civility,  cultivation  of,  407. 

Clarke,  Adam,  divine,  88,  317,  366. 

Clarke,  Sir  J.,  on  competitive  exami- 
nation, 396. 

Clarkson,  slavery  abolitionist,  246. 

Clay,  Henry,  his  study  of  oratory,  355. 

Clergymen,  illustrious  sons  of,  30. 

Clever  children,  what  becomes  of  the. 
365. 

Clive,  Lord,  30,  367. 

Clyde,  Lord,  210,  418. 

Cobbett,  Wm.,  his  self-education,  858 

Cobden,  Mr.,  on  thrift,  282. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  poet,  30, 107,  846. 

Collingwood,  Lord,  307,  381,  405. 

Columbus,  navigator,  100. 

Comic  literature,  841. 

Complaints  of  life,  257,  335. 

Competitive  examination,  335. 

Confidence,  want  of,  an  evil,  321. 

Conic  sections,  discovery  of,  100. 

Conscientiousness,  402. 

Constant,  Benjamin,  author,  344. 

Cook,  Captain,  navigator,  24. 

Cook,  Professor,  a  dunce,  366. 

Coral  islands,  formation  of,  100 

Cortona,  Pietro  di,  366. 

Cotton  manufacture,  its  establish- 
ment, 46. 

Courage  aud  gentleness,  417. 

Cowper,  poet,  254. 

Cox,  David,  painter,  136. 

Cramming  not  education,  335,  339. 

Crauford,  earldom  of,  181. 

Criminals,  reclamation  of,  298. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  on  integrity,  402 

Crystal  Palace,  design  of,  108. 

Cuneiform  character,  79. 

Cunningham,  Allan,  author,  24. 

Curran,  Irish  orator,  356. 

Cuvier,  naturalist,  107,  118. 

DAGTTESSEAU,    Chancellor   of   France, 

111,  385. 

D'Alembert's  advice,  354. 
Dalton,  chemist,  72,  109. 
Dargan,  Mr.,  advice  of,  260. 
Darwin,  Dr.,  author,  110. 
Davy,  Sir  H.,  his  origin,  30;  his  first 

apparatus,  105  ;  his  character,  106 ; 

his  boyhood,  368. 
Debt,  slavery  of,  287. 
Decision,  210,  262,  321. 
Defeat,  generals  great  by,  349- 
Defoe,  author,  26. 
Delhi,  English  at,  217. 
De  Maistre,  on  patient  waiting,  74. 
Dviimau,  Ann,  148. 


INDEX. 


425 


Denman,  Lord,  30. 

Despair,  school  of,  311,  334. 

Despatch  of  business,  260. 

Determination,  invincible,  251. 

De  Witt,  statesman,  261. 

Dick,  Robert,  geologist,  26. 

Difficulty,  uses  of,  348.' 

Digestion  and  success,  311. 

Discontent  of  students,  310. 

Dishonest  gains,  275. 

Disraeli,  Mr.,  politician  and  author, 
34,  37,  400. 

Dodsley,  author,  26. 

Domenichino,  painter,  138. 

Douglas,  anecdote  of  the,  383. 

Drake,  Admiral,  30,  422. 

Drew,  Samuel,  origin.  25 ;  his  career, 
86;  on  frugality,  385;  on  biogra- 
phy, 385. 

Drinking,  vice  of,  281,  294. 

Dry  den,  poet,  364. 

Dudley,  Lord,  on  books,  385. 

Dunces,  illustrious.  366. 

Dunning,  Judge,  30. 

Dupin,  on  English  probity,  274. 

ECKERMANN,  conversation  with  Goethe, 

Economy,  habits  of,  280. 

Edgworth,  Mr.,  on  attention,  43 ;  edu- 
cation of  character,  380. 

Education  through  difficulty,  353. 

Edwardes,  Colonel,  30,  316. 

Edwards,  engineer,  24. 

Edwards,  Thomas,  naturalist,  25. 

Eldon,  Lord,  112,  196. 

Electricity,  discoveries  in,  101. 

Employment,  uses  of,  40,  311. 

Energy,  203,  210,  265,  317,  368. 

Energy  in  money-making,  301. 

English  in  India,  30,  38.  210,  418. 

English  liberty,  characteristics  of,  17. 

Erskine,  Lord,"  his  industry,  112 ;  ori- 
gin, 194 ;  rules  of  conduct,  400. 

Etty.  printer,  26,  136. 

Example,  influence  of,  371. 

Excellence,  how  achieved,  31,  318. 

Exercise,  bodily,  309. 

FACILITIES    and    difficulties,  32,  255, 

337. 

Failures  in  life,  257. 
Families,  old  and  new  English,  180. 
Faraday,  Professor,  26,  106. 
Fast  young  men,  292,  343. 
Ferguson,  James,  natural  philosopher, 

103,  318. 

Fichte,  J.  G.,  professor,  287. 
Fisheries  founded  by  Sir  J.  Sinclair, 

392. 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward,  413. 
Flaxman,  sculptor^  136, 143. 


HARDINGE. 

Flechier,  bishop,  300. 

Foley  peerage,  founder  of,  182. 

Force  of  purpose,  204;  of  industry 
40, 136;  of  example,  371. 

Foreigners'  opinions  of  English  char- 
acter, 20. 

Forgotten  inventors,  42. 

Foster,  J.,  essayist,  25. 

Foundling  Hospital  reformed  by  Han- 
way.  228. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  260,  348. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  101.  103,  364. 
398. 

Franklin,  Sir  John,  39,  417. 

French  and  English  education  con 
trasted,  22. 

Frugality,  habits  of,  281. 

Fuller,  Andrew,  divine,  317. 

Fuller's  character  of  Drake,  422. 


GAINSBOROUGH,  painter,  136, 139. 
Galileo,  discovery  of   the  pendulum 

by,  9'8. 

Galvani,  discovery  of  electricity,  101. 
Generosity,  in  business,  273,  286. 
Genius,  definition  of,  68,  102. 
Genlis,  Madame  de,  111. 
Gentility,  rage  for,  291. 
Gentleman,  the  true,  409,  412. 
Gentleness  and  courage,  406,  417. 
Geology,  discoveries  in,  100,  123. 
Getting  on.  332. 
Giardini,  on  violin-playing,  73. 
Gibbon,  E.,  his  industry,  112. 
Gibson,  J.,  sculptor,  25. 
Gifford,  editor  of  '  Quarterly,'  25, 104 
Gifford,  Judge,  30. 
Gilpin,  painter,  136. 
Girtin,  artist,  159. 
Goethe,  on  English  character,  21. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  30,  367.      ' 
Good,  Dr.  Mason.  109-10. 
Government,  function  of,  17. 
Government  situations,  335. 
Graham,  Sir  J.,  on  self-raised  men,  28 
Grant,  Brothers  Cheeryble,  410. 
Great  men,  18. 

Grosteste,  anecdote  of  Bishop,  32. 
Grote.  Mr.,  historian,  254. 
Guidi',  Tomaso,  painter.  366. 
Guido  Reni,  painter,  385. 
Gurney  family,  249,  382. 
Guturie,  Dr.,  and  John  Pounds,  877 

HABIT,  force  of,  290,  403. 
Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  110,  112,  386. 
Hall,  Marshall,  physician,  119. 
Hall,  Robert,  divine,  365. 
Haller,  Condorcet's  eloge  of.  386. 
Handel,  musician,  174,  365,  382,  388 
Han  way,  Jonas,  224. 
Hardinge,  Lord,  30. 


426 


INDEX. 


Hardwick,  Lord,  30. 
Hargreaves'  spinning  jenny,  48. 
Harrison,  chronometer  maker,  24. 
Harvey,  Dr.,  and  circulation  of  the 

blood,  115. 

Hastings,  Warren,  30,  211. 
Haydn,  musician,  174,  382. 
Haydon,  painter,  157,  287,  387. 
Hazlitt,  on  business,  252. 
Health,  physical,  310,  314. 
Heroism  in  India,  38,  211,  418. 
Herschel,  astronomer,  26.  121. 
High  standard  of    living  necessary, 

Hobson,  Admiral,  25. 

Hodson,  of  Hodson's  Horse,  30,  218, 
311,  351,  389. 

Hogarth,  painter,  139. 

Holcroft,  author,  26. 

Home  training,  its  importance,  372. 

Honesty  the  best  policy,  273. 

Honesty,  prevalence  of,  in  business, 
275. 

Hook,  Rev.  Dr.,  75. 

Hope,  its  importance,  75,  203. 

Homer,  Francis,  his  father's  advice  as 
to  economy,  285 ;  on  continuous  ap- 
plication, 319;  on  personal  inter- 
course, 381 ;  on  books,  386 ;  charac- 
ter, 397. 

Howard,  John,  philanthropist,  224;  a 
dunce,  368. 

Hume,  David,  historian,  112. 

Hume,  Joseph,  M.  P.,  92. 

Hunter,  John,  physiologist,  his  origin, 
24 ;  his  museum,  31 ;  his  industry, 
72  :  his  career,  113 ;  study  of  facts, 
Il4,  329. 

Huntingdon,  preacher,  26. 

IDLENESS,  evils  of,  311. 
Imitation  in  children,  371. 
Immortality  of  human  actions,  374. 
Impatience,  290,  321,  324,  334. 
Impressment  of  seamen,  244. 
Improvident  classes,  281. 
Independence    secured   by  frugality, 

India,'  English  in,  30,  39,  211,  418. 

Individualism  and  English  freedom, 
20,23. 

Industry,  a  marked  feature  in  English 
character,  39;  leaders  of.  41,  53; 
persistent,  107,  210 ;  of  artists,  135  ; 
industry  and  the  Peerage,  180;  all 
honest  industry  honorable,  299. 

Inferior  classes,  282. 

Institutions  and  men,  15. 

Integrity  in  business,  273. 

Inventions  and  inventors,  26 ;  steam- 
engine,  26, 42 ;  inventors  principally 
working  men,  42. 


JACKSON,  painter,  25, 136. 
Jackson,  Wm.,  musician,  176. 
Jenner,  Dr.,  his  discovery  of  vaccin* 

tion,  115. 
Jerrold,  Douglas,  on  comic  literature, 

341. 
Jervis,  John  (Lord  St.  Vincent),  210, 

289. 
Johnson,  Dr.,  on  observation,  98 ;  ou 

genius,  102  ;  controversy  with  Gran- 

ville  Sharp,  on  impressment,  244 ; 

on  complaints  of  the  world,  258 ;  on 

debt,  288. 

Jones,  Inigo,  architect,  24, 136. 
Jonson,  Ben,  24. 

KAY,  assistant  of  Arkwright,  48. 
Keats,  poet,  31. 
Kemp,  architect,  162. 
Kepler,  astronomer,  68. 
Kirke  White,  poet,  26,  110. 
Knowledge  is  power,  327;   contrasted 
with  wisdom,  328. 

LABOR  a  blessing,  256. 

Labor  considered  as  an  educator,  41, 

312,  352. 

Laborers,  illustrious,  26. 
Laborious  application  necessary  in  all 

pursuits,  31.  255. 
Labor-saving   processes   in  education 

fallacious,  322. 
Lammenais  on  decision  of  character, 

207. 

Lancaster,  Joseph,  educator,  26. 
Langdale,  Lord,  judge,  200,  373. 
Lansdowne  peerage,  Sir  W.  Petty, 

founder  of,  191. 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  on  personal  inter- 
course, 381. 
Late  learners,  364. 
Lawrence,  Sir  Henry,  216,  418. 
Lawrence,  Sir  John,  216. 
Lawrence,  Sir  T.,  painter,  26, 136. 
Lawyers  raised  to  the  peerage,  194. 
Layard,  Austen,  traveller,  30,  39,  80. 
Leaders  of  industry,  40. 
Learning  and  wisdom  contrasted,  328. 
Ledyard,   traveller,  his  promptitude, 

210. 
Lee,   Professor,    Orientalist,   25,  104, 

362. 
Legislation,  its  power  over-estimated, 

16. 

Lely,  Sir  P.,  painter,  381. 
Leonards,  Lord  St.,  judge,  196. 
Lessing,  saying  of,  22. 
Leyden,  John,  physician,  360. 
Liberty  rests  on  individual  character 

17. 

Light,  discoveries  in,  35,  98- 
Lindsay,  Mr.,  M.  P.,  28. 


INDEX. 


427 


LEPPERSHEY. 

Lippershey,  spectacle-maker,  99. 
Literary  culture  over-estimated.  327. 
Little  thingSj  100,  258,  372. 
Living  within    the  means,  285;   too 

high,  291. 
Livingstone,  Dr.,  missionary,  25,  39, 

Locke,  John,  on  personal  expenditure, 
288  ;  on  cramming,  325. 

Locomotive,  invention  of  the,  45. 

London  merchants  raised  to  the  peer- 
age, 182. 

London  streets  in  1750,  226. 

Lothian,  Lord,  Sir  W.  Scott's  observa- 
tion on,  421. 

London,  landscape-gardener,  85. 

Love  of  money,  303. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  320,  386. 

Luther,  Martin,  reformer,  386. 

Lynch's  Lectures,  304. 

Lyndhurst,  Lord,  195,  354. 

Lytton,  Sir  E.  B.,  34,  36,  320. 

MACAULAY,  Lord,  31. 

Maclise,  painter,  136. 

Maistre,  De,  on  waiting,  74. 

Malesherbes,  Lord  Lansdowne  on,  381. 

Malthns,  D.,on  physical  training,  311. 

Manners,  cultivation  of,  406. 

Mansfield,  Lord,  194. 

Mar,  earldom  of,  181. 

Marine  Society,  founding  of,  227. 

Marshman,  missionary,  76. 

Martin,  painter,  136,  160. 

Martyn,  missionary,  219. 

Masons,  illustrious,  24, 

Mathematics,  uses  of,  100,  354. 

Mather,  Cotton,  influence  of  his  Es- 
says, 385. 

Meeanee,  battle  of,  212. 

Mechanical  work,  uses  of,  41,  313 ; 
education,  339. 

Mechanism  of  the  age,  337. 

Melancthon,   reformer,   on  tune,  111. 

Melbourne,  Lord,  on  self-help,  255. 

Mendelssohn,  musician,  349. 

Method,  uses  of,  260. 

Meyerbeer,  musician,  175. 

Middle  class,  eminent  men  of  the,  29 ; 
extravagances,  291. 

Military  peerages,  194. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  author,  15,  254. 

Miller,  Hugh,  geologist,  origin,  24;  on 
work  as  the  best  of  teachers,  41; 
necessity  his  teacher,  107 ;  his  ca- 
reer, 130 ;  on  integrity,  273 ;  act  of 
self-denial,  294. 

Milner,  the  brothers,  divines,  25. 

Milnes,  R.  M.,  on  mechanical  labor, 
314. 

Milton,  John,  origin,  30 ;  as  man  of 
business.  253 ;  on  physical  culture, 


OPPORTUNITIES. 

309  ;  on  self-respect,  332 ; 

Minton,  H.,  manufacturer,  64. 

Misfortune,  causes  of,  257. 

Missionaries,  illustrious    75,  219,  386 

Models  of  character,  380. 

Money,  uses  of,  279  ;  love  of,  302. 

Monkey,  cupidity  of  the,  304. 

Montaigne,  author,  399. 

Montalembert,  on  Indian  rebellion, 
39  ;  on  passion  for  government  em 
ployment,  336. 

Montesquieu,  laborious  authorship. 
112. 

Montfort,  de,  descendant  of,  181. 

Moor,  Professor,  his  industry,  357. 

Moreau,  General,  great  in  defeat,  350. 

Morrison,  missionary,  25. 

Mortality  among  the  poor  in  1765, 230. 

Mozart,  musician,  174. 

Muley  Moluc,  warrior,  205. 

Mulready,  painter,  141. 

Murchison,  Sir  R.,  26, 133. 

Murray,  Professor,  humble  begin- 
nings, 357. 

Mutiny,  the  Indian,  214. 

NAILMAKINQ  at  Stourbridge  and  the 
Foley  family,  182. 

Napier,  Sir  C.,  his  energy  in  India, 
212 ;  on  the  conduct  of  gentlemen, 
292. 

Napoleon,  his  energy,  208 ;  a  dull  boy. 
367. 

National  progress  and  decay,  16. 

Navvies,  anecdote  of  two  English,  in 
Paris,  416. 

Necessity  a  good  teacher,  102, 255, 350. 

Nelson,  Lord,  30 ;  on  time,  263. 

Nervous  system,  discoveries  in,  118. 

Newcomen,  inventor,  26,  43,  102. 

Newton,  Sir  I.,  his  origin,  30 ;  his 
method  of  study,  68 ;  accidental  de- 
struction of  his  papers,  78 ;  fall  of 
the  apple,  97 ;  his  apparatus,  103 ; 
industry,  112 ;  Master  of  the  Mint, 
254  ;  his  mechanical  labor  in  youth, 
314  ;  a  dunce  at  school,  366. 

Nicholson,  Colonel,  in  India,  217. 

Nicoll,  Robert,  author,  347. 

Nineveh  marbles,  discovery  of,  79. 

Nollekens,  sculptor,  142. 

Normanby,  founder  of  peerage  of,  185 

Norris,  India-house  clerk,  80. 

Norsemen,  character  of,  202. 

Northcote,  painter,  136,  383. 

Nottingham  and  the  Halls,  119. 

Novel-reading,  341. 

OBSERVATION,  intelligent,  98. 
Opie,  painter,  25, 103, 136. 
Opportunities,  art  of  seizing  104, 108 


428 


INDEX. 


Dratory,    learnt    through    difficulty. 

354. 

Dutram,  Sir  J.,  418. 
Owen,  Dr.,  naturalist,  31,  113. 

PAUIERSTON,  Lord,  34,  315. 

Parish  poor,  Hanway's  reforms  among, 

Patience,  74,  323. 

Paton,  Noel,  painter,  166. 

Paxton,  Sir  Joseph,  108. 

Peel  family,  53. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  manufacturer,  56. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  statesman,  his  indus- 
try, 34;  his  memory,  how  culti- 
vated, 73  ;  his  truthfulness,  401. 

Peerage,  industry  and  the,  180. 

Pendulum,  discovery  of  the,  98. 

Penny,  power  of  the,  280. 

Perseverance,  67,  76,  108,  318. 

Pestalozzi,  on  education,  327. 

Petty,  Sir  Wm.,  founder  of  Lans- 
downe  peerage.  191. 

Philanthropy,  the  highest,  17. 

Phipps,  Sir  W.,  founder  of  the  Nor- 
manDy  peerage,  185. 

Physical  culture,  309. 

Plastow,  Abraham,  373. 

Playfair,  Professor,  30. 

Pleasure,  pursuit  of,  343. 

Politeness,  406. 

Politics,  laborious  workers  in.  34. 

Pollock,  Lord  Chief  Baron,  30. 

Pope,  poet,  31,  377. 

Popular  roads  to  knowledge,  322. 

Porter,  David,  a  worthy  sweep,  301. 

Pottery  manufacture,  its  founding  by 
Wedgwood,  59. 

Pounds,  John,  and  ragged  schools, 
377. 

Poussin,  Nicholas,  painter,  97. 

Poverty  may  be  a  blessing,  32. 

Power  of  money  over-estimated,  305. 

Power,  exercise  of  a  test  of  the  gen- 
tleman, 420. 

Practical  education  of  Englishmen, 
20. 

Precept  and  example,  371. 

Precocity,  365. 

Prejudices,  406. 

Preston,  Arkwright  at,  46. 

Priestley,  Dr..  105. 

Principles  become  habits,  404 

Promptitude,  210,  262,  321. 

Prosperity,  dangers  of,  351. 

Proverbs  on  thrift,  296. 

Providence  and  improvidence,  280. 

Pugin,  architect,  131. 

Punctuality,  263. 

Purpose,  203  ;  in  study,  320,  331. 

RAGGED  schools,  the  founders  of,  377. 


Rawlinson,  Sir  H.,  and  cuneiform  al- 
phabet, 39,  80. 

Red-Tapeism,  266. 

Reform  of  habits,  the  greatest  reform, 
281. 

Rendu,  on  English  education,  22. 

Respectability,  306. 

Responsibility,  human,  377. 

Reynolds,  Sir  J.,  origin,  30  ;  on  force 
of  industry,  135,  318  ;  his  boyhood, 
139  ;  his  painstaking,  355  ;  influence 
of  his  Discourses,  386. 

Ricardo,  David,  stockjobber,  254. 

Riches,  32,  304,  415. 

Richter,  J.,  on  self-culture,  331 ;  on 
poverty,  350. 

Ridicule,  94. 

Rittenhouse,  astronomer,  104 

Roberts,  painter,  136. 

Romilly,  Sir  S.,  lawyer,  35,  359,  385. 

Romney,  painter,  24,  136. 

Rosse,  Lord,  33. 

Rossini,  Beethoven's  saying  of,  349. 

Routine,  266. 

Royal  Society,  foundation  of,  191. 

Ruskin,  on  mechanism,  338. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  34  ;  on  character, 


ST.  LEONARDS,  Lord,  195,  320. 

St.  Vincent,  Earl,  210,  289. 

Saving  of  money,  280,  302. 

Scanderbeg,  his  bravery,  383. 

Scarlatti,  on  Handel,  382. 

Scheele,  chemist,  105. 

Schiller,  on  life  education,  20. 

Schimmel  Penninck,  Mrs.,  on  mater- 
nal example,  373. 

School,  a  training-ground  for  life,  312. 

Scientific  apparatus,  humble,  103. 

Scott,  Lord  Eldon,  112, 197. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  origin,  30;  his  in- 
dustry, 81;  cultivation  of  opportu- 
nities, 104;  man  of  business,  254; 
on  promptitude,  262;  his  physical 
health,  816;  a  dunce  in  his  boy- 
hood, 367. 

Scott  monument,  architect  of,  162. 

Self-culture,  309,  325. 

Self-denial  and  control.  281  331. 

Self-help,  15, 18, 280. 

Self-raised  men,  23. 

Self-reform,  281. 

Self-respect,  332. 

Serampore  mission,  76. 

Shakspeare,  author,  24,  253. 

Sharp,  Granville,  slavery  abolitionist 
234,  388, 402. 

Sharpies,  James,  self-taught  artist 
166. 

Shepherds,  Scotch,  360. 

Sheridan,  a  dunce  in  boyhood,  367 


INDEX. 


4?9 


SHOEMAKERS. 

Shoemakers,  illustrious,  25. 

Shovel,  SirCloudesley,  sailor,  25,  30. 

Simpson,  mathematician,  25. 

Sinclair,  Sir  John,  his  energetic  ca- 
reer, 389. 

Slavery,  laborers  in  abolition  of,  236. 

Smeaton,  engineer,  30,  43. 

Smith,  Adam,  political  economist,  75. 

Smith,  Dr.  Pye,  divine,  112. 

Smith,  Sydney,  divine,  35,  74. 

Smith,  Wm.,  geologist,  123. 

Smuggling  adventure  of  Samuel  Drew, 
87. 

Somers,  Lord,  judge,  30. 

Southey,  author,  31,  335,  347. 

Spagnoletto,  painter,  136. 

Spelman,  Sir  H.,  antiquary,  364. 

Spenser,  poet,  as  man  of  business,  253. 

Spinola,  Marquis  de,  general.  257. 

Spread  of  knowledge,  319. 

Staffordshire  potteries,  founder  of,  59. 

Stanfield,  painter,  136. 

Stanley,  Lord,  on  character,  396. 

Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  393. 

Steam,  power  of,  101. 

Steam-engine,  invention  of,  26, 42, 102. 

Stephen  of  Colonna,  saying  of,  399. 

Stephenson,  Geo.,  26,  45,  79,  89,  368. 

Stephenson,  Robert,  on  mechanical 
invention,  45. 

Sterling,  John,  on  self-denial,  280;  on 
comic  literature,  341 ;  his  character, 
382. 

Stone,  Edmund,  mathematician,  104, 
318. 

Stothard,  painter,  108, 145. 

Strong,  case  of  the  slave,  235. 

Strutts,  of  Helper,  49,  193. 

Studies,  Bacon  on,  20. 

Study,  320. 

Sturgeon,  electrician,  25. 

Success,  the  path  of,  67,  255,  311. 

Sugden,  Lord  St.  Leonards,  195. 

Superficial  knowledge,  319. 

Suwarrow,  on  power  of  will,  208. 

Sweep,  an  illustrious,  301. 

Swift,  Dean,  a  dunce  in  his  youth,  366. 

TACT,  in  business,  52,  265. 
Taglioni,  74. 
Tailors,  illustrious,  25. 
Talbot,  chemist,  33. 
Talfourd,  Judge,  30. 
Tannahill,  poet,  25. 
Taxation,  self-imposed,  281. 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  on  idleness,  311. 

publisher,  causes  of  his  success, 


Telford,  engineer,  24. 
Tempters,  young  men's,  293. 
Tennyson,  poet  laureate,  30,  396. 
Ven'erden,  Lord  Chief  Justice,  23, 195 


WIESE. 

Teutonic  energy,  181,  202. 

Thames  tunnel,  Brunei's  method  01 

constructing,  99. 
Thierry,  Augustin,  author,  345. 
Thomson,  poet,  30. 
Thorburn,  painter,  165. 
Thoroughness,  319. 
Thrift,  necessity  for,  280,  296. 
Thurlow,  Lord,  30. 
Time,  economy  of,  110,  262,  318. 
Titian,  painter,  his  industry.  137. 
Trade,  honesty  in,  274. 
Treasure-hunting  in  South  Seas,  bj 

Phipps,  186. 
Trench,  on  character  of  Sterling,  382. 

Bevithick,  inventor,  45. 
ifles,  make  perfection,  97 ;  influence 
character,  372. 

Truth  makes  the  gentleman,  401,  417. 
Turner,  painter,  24, 136, 159. 

UMBRELLAS,  introduction  of,  233. 
Uprightness  of  character,  402. 

VACCINATION,  discovery  of,  by  Jenner, 

115. 

Vails-giving,  practice  of,  232. 
Violin-playing,  difficulty  of,  73,  354. 
Voltaire,  sayings  of,  20,  69. 

WALKER,  Adam,  25. 

Walker,  the  "  Original,"  205. 

Ward,  missionary,  76. 

Washington,  General,  on  punctuality, 
264;  on  business  details,  289;  his 
-y^ess  through  defeat,  349. 

wasters,  286. 

Watt,  James,  inventor,  his  origin,  26; 
hiB  industry,  43,  79 ;  defective  busi- 
ness qualities,  51;  ingenuity  of 
adaptation,  99,  104;  improvement 
of  opportunity,  102,  109;  a  late 
learner,  365 ;  a  dull  scholar,  306. 

Wealth  and  art,  136. 

Wealth  makes  life  too  easy,  32,  305. 

Wealthy  classes,  workers  among  the 

Weavers,  illustrious,  25. 

Wedgwood,  Josiah,  manufacturer,  59, 

Wellesley,  Marquis    of,  his  honesty, 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  his  devotion  to 
duty,  209 ;  a  first-rate  man  of  busi- 
ness, 266 ;  his  opinions  on  debt,  289 , 
his  encounter  of  difficulties,  350 ;  a 
dull  boy,  367 ;  his  honesty,  414 ;  on 
truthfulness,  401,  417. 

West,  Benjamin,  painter,  103,  136, 
138,  373 

White,  Kirke,  poet,  26, 110. 

Wiese,  on  English  character,  22. 


430 


INDEX. 


Wilkie,  David,  painter,  origin,  30 ;  his 
opportunities,  103;  his  persistent 
industry,  166. 

Will,  force  of,  204 ;  freedom  of,  206. 

Williams,  missionary,  220. 

Wilson,  ornithologist,  25. 

Wilson,  painter,  30.  96,  136,  138. 

Wilson,  Professor,  30,  317. 

Wisdom,  practical,  279,  320,  329. 

Wolff,  Dr.,  missionary,  386. 

Wollaston,  Dr.,  origin,  30;  his  appa- 
ratus, 103. 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  26. 

Wool  society,  British,  391. 

Worcester,  Marquis  of,  83,  102. 

Wordsworth,  poet,  30,  254. 


Working,  courageous,  204. 
Working  quality,  training  of,  73. 
Working  classes,   true   independence 

of,  282,  284. 

Wreck  of  the  Birkenhead,  419. 
Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  architect,  30. 
Wright,  Thomas,  and  reclamation  of 

criminals,  298. 
Wright,  painter,  136. 
Writing  down  facts,  practice  of,  112. 

YATES(ofPeel&Co.),66. 

Young,  Dr.,  philosopher,  30,  76,  98, 

ZISKA,  John,  general,  383. 
Zucarelli,  painter,  138. 


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